Today, we share our first exclusive interview of 2024! We talked with an italian artist and contenct creator who works in the Japanese and international music market. His name is Haru and he’s the founder of All Might Studio; he composes and produces J-Pop and J-Rock songs! He’s also a member of the duo J-Pop Connect.
All Might Studio: Facebook, X, Instagram, Youtube
TokyoNoise: Let’s start from the most important information. You are a composer specialized in J-Pop and in J-Rock music. When was this passion born? Why did you decide to focus on Japanese music?
Haru: Hello everyone! I’m Haru, a composer and a sound mixer specialized in J-Pop/J-Rock and BGM music. My studio is called ALL MIGHT STUDIO and that’s where the magic is born!
Having introduced myself, I’ll start by thanking you for this nice opportunity! *smiles*
This time is really the #PortfolioDay 🎧✨
— All Might Studio – Composer/Mix (@AllMight_Studio) January 10, 2024
Hi I’m Haru, Composer specialized in J-Pop/J-Rock and BGM
I Worked for many Idols, Vsingers and Vtubers like:
Phoebe, Phase Connect, Shoujy, Project Constellation, Kuupi, Chichi and many more!
Do you like this Songs? Let me know 👇🏻 pic.twitter.com/5LQDtzNfiC
If I have to go back to the exact moment when my passion for composition started, I think I would find it when I was 17 years old, when I first started my guitar lessons. I don’t have a family of musicians; although music was always a fire inside of me, I never even considered it nor I had any impulse to go towards it before that.
When I started studying music something happened inside me, as if I finally understood that playing wasn’t only “playing notes on a prearranged tempo”, but it was more like a language, like the Italian language I speak.
So my passion was born in one of the most boring moments in a musician’s career: when you are taking your guitar lessons, hahahahah. *laughs*
As for focusing on Japanese music, that was also by chance, like an epiphany.
I watched anime for years and I’ve always been a huge fan. I always thought there was something special about the music I listened to, especially opening and ending theme songs or the theme for characters.
I noticed I really liked them and that I would find similarities with the JRPG music I listened to, like the ones for “Final Fantasy”, “Chrono Trigger”, “Fire Emblem”, etc.
I then asked myself: “Why do I love this kind of music so much?”
Since I studied music harmony at a “Yamaha Centre” music school, I decided to study hundreds of musical scores of J-Pop, J-Rock and BGM on my own to understand their nature.
Everything then culminated in the book I released about J-Pop music harmony called “La Progressione dei Sogni”.
I’m sure. J-Pop and J-music in general have another approach to harmony and make this kind of song for a western artist it’s hard. I spent one year to make an harmony book on J-Pop: “la progressione dei sogni” if you search a very J-Pop song I can do it for you. #JMusic pic.twitter.com/3VX4pvsMwL
— All Might Studio – Composer/Mix (@AllMight_Studio) February 1, 2022
You also specialized in BGM music creation. Can you explain how you creative process works? How do you prepare your compositions?
BGM creation is a very meticulous process, because there are several conditions you have to follow to find the best solution so that everything works perfectly.
The first obstacle to overcome is “circularity”. In videogames, a BGM is repeated ad libitum until you are in a certain place or in a certain moment of the game, thus it has to be interesting to listen to, but it can’t distract you. It can’t be boring either, because you will listen to it for hours.
For Vtubing it’s the same. I then try to go through some guidelines, for example:
- What is the character’s theme or the theme for the place I have to represent? Does the character come from the far north or from a Caribbean island?
- What’s the character’s lore?
- What are their main colours?
After that, I start drafting a theme. It has to follow some criteria of “good composition”, like, for example, the “question/answer” criteria, or the usage of certain chords to create expectations (tensions chords) and other countless techniques I won’t torture you with! *laughs*
You work with Italian, international and Japanese artists since 2020. You are involved in the project Shoujy. Could you talk about it?
Of course! The Shoujy project is one of the most creative in Italy and, for some people, in Europe as well. It’s the first project that balances progressive metal and visual kei.
Shoujy’s style is inspired on one hand by important bands from the genre, like Dream Theater, Haken or the Italians DGM through the rhythm complexity, phrasing and some arrangement ideas; on the other hand, the inspiration comes also from visual kei artists like The GazettE, Aiolin, L’Arc~en~Ciel, etc., through style aspects of J-Music, like some harmony methods, vocal approaches and sensitivity.
The Shoujy project counts 3 original songs. The latest one is “Surudoi Egao”. It was recorded with Italian progessive guitarist Myki di Bono, who’s now part of the project.
Myki di Bono is an expert in progressive music, and he helped us better develop some nuances of the genre by assimilating them into the sound. The strong, bluesy and vibrant voice of Shoujy needed a guitar sound that managed to support her.
We are currently finishing a new song that will be out soon. We’ll announce it on all of our social medias! *smiles*
When you work with other artists, like the utaite Phoebe, how do organize your work? How do you create music with others?
It’s the same process as BGM: utaite and idol projects can have a theme. So the first approach to these projects is the same as described before; however, there are some differences on the arrangement process and on the work quality.
Even if it sounds easy from an external point of view, arranging a song is actually a very complicated process, similar to a production line in big companies, where you can usually find a specific role or a specific machine that handle every step of the process.
Since I’m bound to the “catchy tune” concept, I always start from the melody and a very specific harmony, in very simple terms. Then, I analyse the client to understand whether the sound I created matches. Once the verses and the chorus (the most important parts) of the song are outlined, I’ll then go to the arrangement, which is the most time consuming step. I choose what instruments to use, what role they’ll cover, what rhythm they’ll have in order to create weaven sounds and, most of all, in what way they’ll support the voice without covering it.
It’s a painstaking work and sometimes I really feel like a monastic scribe who spend his nights copying ancient books. *laughs + palm face*
You worked in many project for BGM music. Would you describe some of these projects and what you learned through them?
BGM is a very requested service. There are many Vtuber artists and each one of them wants to share specific nuances that a single BGM can’t cover. It would make them… two-dimensional *awkward silence*
Ok, this was bad.
Let’s get back on track! I fondly remember an experience for BGM: it was working with Harizono Erisu, a Vtuber who’s inspired by Sonic and running. I created music that would remind people of iconic games atmosphere, like the blue hedgehog’s. Furthermore, she lives in Japan, and it was so nice for me to know more about the country, since I still didn’t have the opportunity to visit it. *sad face*
I am going to sleep but i wanna leave you with THIS NICE SURPRISE!💚
— Harizono Erisu🦔🏁ERICHUS (@harizonoerisu) March 3, 2023
I hope this will make you wanna dance~ 🏁
Oyachus! ✨ https://t.co/FBbsg3pMzh
You are very active on your X and Instagram profiles. You also started a new adventure on Youtube with the video in which you describe J-Pop. What do you feel as a content creator?
Good question! Although I’m very open in terms of speaking with others, at the end of the day I’m not really a social person, because I’m usually in my studio working. Sometime ago I didn’t even like showing myself on camera. However, by doing lives on Twitch I discovered aspects of my personality that I didn’t know about, a side that was really cheerful and that loved “introducing and being introduced”. I then decided I would tell everyone what I learned on social media.
I’m going to be honest: I still have a lot of work to do, because I’d love to do way more than what I’m currently doing, but I’m training my mind and I’m setting my days so that I can do more. A lot of people think we can’t achieve a certain goal, but during these past years I realized that you are the one who sets your biggest limits. When you go beyond your limits, you can achieve whatever you want!
You were active on Twitch several years ago. What do you remember of that period of time? Have you ever thought of going back on Twitch?
I have beautiful memories of that period, because I managed to better understand a side of my personality. The lives I did with J-Pop Connect (a duo project on Japanese culture) were really good.
However, because of our inexperience, radio personality Raffo-Kun and I gave too much and we couldn’t find the right audience.
Because of that, we didn’t succeed on Twitch, even though we had important guests, even from Japan, who talked about the Vtuber world and other topics that you couldn’t find on Twitch at the time. We moved onto Instagram and now we have a different approach.
Are you asking us if we’ll go back to it as regulars? Well, we’ll decided based on the Italian audience: at the time it wasn’t big enough on Twitch? I don’t know, but I still have good memories of it all.
Let’s talk about the audience who follows you and listens to your music! What kind of relationship do you have with your Italian, international and Japanese audience?
It seems like a coincidence, but I talked about this in advance in the previous question. *laughs*
I don’t want to differiante too much as not to sound like a weaboo. However, Italian and overseas audiences are, in general, completely different. The Japanese one is even more different than those two.
The Italian public, for now, is the least interested in discovering new things and it’s also the least prepared to handle certain things that are far from the common standard.
I’m not saying it’s a “bad” audience, because it’s not something they are aware of; it’s more of a consequence to the bad communication skills that Italian media have towards music.
Negative aspects aside, the audience who follows me, the Italian one included, is very lovely and loves my career growth.
The kind of audience I’m probably searching for is the one who has an approach to music similar to the one I have, a bit naive, with the same chills when you opened your first CD package as a teen! My audience is the same one who would anxiously wait to play a Playstation game after hearing the SYNTH sound and while seeing the “PLAYSTATION” logo screen on your console. Whoever felt that thrill during those moments probably loves my music.
Let’s talk about the future: how do you prepare future projects and how do you handle requests of collaborations?
I’m currently reorganizing everything. The studio (and myself) is growing and I have to admit I feel a bit unprepared on how to deal with all that, but I’m sure I’ll manage with some effort. So, if I have to talk about how I organize my work, I can say I always spend time on my networking and on the artists who will work with me in the future, on American composers and some bands around the world.
In this way, I’m always on track and I avoid procrastination. You know, the classic “ok, I’ll do it later”, and later means tomorrow, and tomorrow means never. *laughs*
Could you tell us a bit about the projects you’ll publish in the near future?
I can’t talk about some of these projects because of restrictive clauses, but I can say that one of the new songs I’m preparing is for very important people. *eyes open wide*
Among the projects I can talk about, there’s Shoujy’s new single and a duet. One of the artists involved is Shiroku, an European idol based in Germany who released several songs with a Japanese label.
About other projects: I’ll release three singles in May, a cover next month and I’m choosing between some new collaborations. I also want to expand my Youtube channel and turn it into a info-tainment about J-Music kind of channel!
I think I answered everything, but, hey! It’s not over: this is only the beginning of my musical journey, let’s go through it together!
