Staff Members :: Dave

Title Co-Webmaster / Editor-in-Chief for Album Information Email Address dave [at] squareenixmusic.com Forum Name Davidov Joined Site April 2005 Favourite Game Music Artists Yoko Kanno Hitoshi Sakimoto Yuzo Koshiro Masaharu Iwata Yoshitaka Hirota Ryuji Sasai Hidenori Iwasaki Manabu Namiki

Date of Birth February 26, 1988 Place of Residence Bristol, England Occupation Student Favourite Musical Styles Most Styles General Interests Playing Piano Skiing Geography Video Game Music Socialising with Friends Album Reviewing Listening to Music Ska Music

Biography

I would never describe myself as being a big gamer, so it may come as a surprise to you that I have even come to explore the VGM world. It was by chance that I first heard of Video Game Music and Square Enix Music Archive in December 2002 after seeing my brother, Chris, browsing the site. I guess it was from this point onwards that I would find myself listening to his album collection, and it soon became a hobby of mine to sit in his room listening to the music. In the end he ended up sharing his albums with me, so now he can sit in peace!

The first album that I ever heard was the Chrono Trigger Original Sound Version, and as a result, this was the first album I ever reviewed too, albeit a whole three years later. I started writing my opinions of the soundtracks back in April last year, and it was at this time that I made my first post on the Square Enix Music Archive Forums. I went undiscovered until the Best Square Theme of All Time Contest began, and since that point, I have been a main group reviewer in the forums and a keen contributor to the main site. This is pretty much how far my pre-2005 experience with Video Game Music stretches, but there is certainly a lot to say about 2005 and the present day.

The redesign of the site in August, 2005, introduced me to a great deal of new composers, and many others were revealed to me a few months after through site updates; the names of Motoi Sakuraba, Hitoshi Sakimoto, and Masaharu Iwata all stick out in my mind, and as you may have noticed through my reviews, they have become three of my favourite Video Game Music composers. The first of these composers, Motoi Sakuraba, became a favourite when global coverage of his works was completed in October, 2005. I reviewed a number of albums for this update and was captivated by his progressive rock styles and talent on the synthesisers.

Alongside Hitoshi Sakimoto, Sakuraba was responsible for my introduction to electronica in Video Game Music, though an obvious emphasis should be put on the name of Sakimoto. Naturally, this led me to explore this section further, and hence I stumbled upon Sakimoto's company, Basiscape, where he works alongside Iwata, Mitsuhiro Kaneda, and Manabu Namiki. Having heard the likes of Iwata and Sakimoto's Final Fantasy Tactics Original Soundtrack, I was quite surprised to see the duo involved in projects for Cave, for which electronic music, rather than orchestral music, is a main feature of the shooter games. This taught me one valuable lesson, which is that they are all on a learning experience too. Indeed, now that I am more akin with Video Game Music, it makes me laugh when I hear other composers' distinct styles being tried and tested by their fellow co-workers.

Naturally, I have been a fan of all kinds of music for a great number of years, but more through learning the piano at the age of seven than anything else. I'll be honest with you when I say that I don't listen to much popular music from nowadays, and I am thankful that I didn't get exposed to '90s music when I was growing up. Still, I am now eighteen, and not a week has gone by in which I haven't given my piano keys a jingle, and I guess dedication like that has put me where I am today. I took up the violin in 1997, and since 2004 I have been performing in the North Somerset Symphonia with it. I have always enjoyed playing each of them, but sadly, I have to admit I have neglected them a lot recently. I still compose for them though, which is a hobby I found through my GCSE and A-level Music course.

Aside from my musical hobbies, education is important to me. I am taking three A level subjects, and these are in Maths, Geography, and Music. Ideally, I would love to become a film composer, but with the music industry being highly demanding, I am sure that you can see that this is not going to happen. So instead, I intend to become a geographer and study it as a degree at the University of Sheffield or the University of Exeter.

Despite everything else that I enjoy in life, Video Game Music remains a strong feature in my everyday life, and I just know that my knowledge of it is expanding all the time. Working on the site alongside Chris, Harry, and fellow reviewers has really opened up a new life for me, but don't forget, that it is you, our visitors, that make everything all the more worthwhile. I thank you all for introducing me to new information every day, and I make it my goal to carry on reviewing for the good of the site.

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