Brave Wave, like Scarlet Moon Productions, is a multifaceted music company which focuses on video game composers and musicians, publishing albums with new music they create and helping them connect to and work with developers large and small. Their roster features both western and Japanese artists including Manami Matsumae (Mega Man, Shovel Knight, Rainblocks), Chipzel (Super Hexagon), Saori Kobayashi (Panzer Dragoon, Super Monkey Ball), Eirik Suhrke (Spelunky), Takahiro Izutani (Metal Gear Solid 4, Bayonetta), Keiji Yamagishi (Ninja Gaiden), and Tim McCord (Evanescence bassist). These and other composers are looking to work on indie games and the Mohammed Taher at Brave Wave has answered some questions for us about the process of hiring and working with them.
Can you give me a brief overview of the process someone might go through to contract with one of Brave Wave's artists?
We have a page dedicated to explaining our music services to potential clients. There's a contact button in there too, for the quickest way to get in touch. The contact button also asks for a budget, as that helps us in determining which artists we could employ, and whether the project could fit into our internal process.
What sort of information would an indie developer need to provide you regarding their game for purposes of negotiating a contract? What kind of details would be ideal?
It's always good to start with the game itself: What is it about, what is it trying to do, and what kind of music is the developer looking for? Then, we would need an estimate of the number of tracks, as that gives us a good visual of the amount of work we'll be dedicating for the project.
Lastly -- and most importantly -- is the budget. We're known for making soundtracks that blend a wide pool of artists, as evident on the new Adventure Time game by WayForward, where we have Eirik Suhrke working with composers like Chipzel, Ian Stocker (Escape Goat), Monomirror (Flutlicht), and Keiji Yamagishi. Bigger budgets allow us to employ creative techniques and inventive ways to make for a compelling, one-of-a-kind soundtrack. A budget also helps us in knowing whom to employ for a job, as different composers have different skills and require different pay.
What kind of game it is, what kind of music you're looking for, how many tracks you need, and what your budget is. Those are the essentials.
What kind of questions might developers expect the artists to ask regarding what they want the music to be?
Usually, a developer would give us a set of criteria to meet, and the composers would strive toward accomplishing them. Sometimes it's in the form of guided instructions, like the developer requesting a certain style or aesthetic or feel, and sometimes it's more like: here's what we have in mind for this stage so let us know what you envision for the music. Our composers rarely ask questions if provided with enough material; screenshots, concept art, story, et cetera. Brave Wave's job resides in filling an essential need, so developers can expect questions that gravitate around further exploring the game or the situation we're dealing with.
Some of your artists are not native English speakers. How do you handle the language barrier if artist and developer have no languages in common?
From the very beginning, Brave Wave was built with the intention of connecting Japanese composers with Western developers, so the language barrier is something we tackled head-on. Our work comes bundled with translation services -- not just emails and quick thoughts, but translating documents and interpreting at meetings. For our work on Shovel Knight, the developer provided us with a document that included their thought process and art material, and we created a Japanese document specifically for Manami Matsumae (the composer) so that she understands the intent of the developer clearly. My partner Alex's prior experience in business development and localization means we're able to provide a best-in-class experience for developers and musicians alike.
Is there anything else you think prospective customers should or might want to know?
Brave Wave pioneered the idea of connecting Japanese musicians with international developers and I'm thrilled to say that it has been a success so far, with some of our musicians getting up to 300% increase in their work compared to past years, and an unparalleled exposure on all kinds of media. We started with Keiji Yamagishi and Manami Matsumae, and we're bringing more musicians to our team like Saori Kobayashi, Takahiro Izutani, Masashi Kageyama (Gimmick) and more. Our composers laid the groundwork for the industry a few decades ago, and we're happy to help them get back into the music world one more time. Our portfolio of albums is a good place to sample our music, and we're always open to collaborate with developers all around the world.
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