Mitsuo Singa

[erect2protect]

So I like alot of Falcom's OSTs but I've come across some comments on YouTube videos where they basically trash on the guy if the track was made by him. Is it a meme to hate on him or do people really not like his music?

[jlawleraz]

I like the Trails soundtracks he has done. But the overwhelming hatred people seem to have for some of his stuff seems legitimate to me. It comes across more as a blind rage kind of thing than a groupthink meme thing.

[Minneyar]

There's a small group of very vocal people who really, really hate his style, especially a few of his instrument choices.

I think he's one of Falcom's weaker composers, but most of his compositions are unoffensive and he's made a few really good tracks (although I think his Ys work is better than Trails).

[Jinzo]

I know he arranged some of the Sky EVO tracks, which is all you need to say really just have a listen one after the other and compare one of my favourite tracks, keep a particular ear out for the instruments.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5ok9bzDzaS0

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qk8RYZrmZdE

I also believe he has arranged more and more tracks without actually knowing the context of the scenes they are created for, particularly for later games, which end up making them sound generic.

For instance with Crossbell there is a very poignant theme of bells within the OST this is the kind of thing that will be missing.

[Exarch_Alpha]

He is meh, it´s just that Unisuga is too good.

[erect2protect]

Originally posted by timothycoffey12345:

I know he arranged some of the Sky EVO tracks, which is all you need to say really just have a listen one after the other and compare one of my favourite tracks, keep a particular ear out for the instruments.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5ok9bzDzaS0

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qk8RYZrmZdE

I also believe he has arranged more and more tracks without actually knowing the context of the scenes they are created for, particularly for later games, which end up making them sound generic.

For instance with Crossbell there is a very poignant theme of bells within the OST this is the kind of thing that will be missing.

I think its funny that you bring this example up because literally all the YouTube comments I've read reference this specific example. I've heard the arranged version of Fateful Confrontation by Singa and I do have to admit it is nowhere near as good at the original. But that's the thing with him.

Personally, I do like a lot of his songs, even before I knew it was him who made them but he does have some stinkers like the above example.

[erect2protect]

Originally posted by Minneyar:

There's a small group of very vocal people who really, really hate his style, especially a few of his instrument choices.

I think he's one of Falcom's weaker composers, but most of his compositions are unoffensive and he's made a few really good tracks (although I think his Ys work is better than Trails).

And here I was thinking the entire fanbase hated the guy. Now it makes a lot more sense

[erect2protect]

Originally posted by jlawleraz:

I like the Trails soundtracks he has done. But the overwhelming hatred people seem to have for some of his stuff seems legitimate to me. It comes across more as a blind rage kind of thing than a groupthink meme thing.

I honestly think the rage people have against him is completely unwarranted. People are allowed to not like his music, but I find it dumb that they go out of their way to attack someone just because his music doesn't suit their tastes.

[jlawleraz]

Originally posted by erect2protect:

I honestly think the rage people have against him is completely unwarranted. People are allowed to not like his music, but I find it dumb that they go out of their way to attack someone just because his music doesn't suit their tastes.

I agree. People can like or dislike whatever they want, but it gets to a wild extent with him. Beyond the attacks, I have one related story. I remember coming on to the Steam forums after finishing Cold Steel 3, which I enjoyed playing. And there was this thread of people claiming the series was ruined and they would never play another Trails game. I was expecting it to be reasons I had seen before, like the publisher change or the larger cast. And it was all about him. I hadn't even heard his name before that. It blew me away that some music tracks that I thought were fine would drive people away from an entire game series.

[Shaolin]

If anything, I feel like there are more people bashing those that do not like Singa's music than there are Singa haters, but that could be confirmation bias on my part. As someone who personally dislikes most of his tracks (but definitely not all), I feel that his style conflicts with the other music often and sometimes within his own tracks. Like "Ashita e no Kiseki" is great until a certain part which seems to come from a completely different song. It also starts to feel boring as his often uses very similar instruments, although in this game that is not the case which was a pleasant surprise.

All in all, I would say there are plenty of people that legitimately do not like his music but there are definitely just people that automatically hate any track of his without listening. Just try not to automatically dismiss criticism as that is on the same level as haters imo.

[erect2protect]

Originally posted by Shaolin:

If anything, I feel like there are more people bashing those that do not like Singa's music than there are Singa haters, but that could be confirmation bias on my part. As someone who personally dislikes most of his tracks (but definitely not all), I feel that his style conflicts with the other music often and sometimes within his own tracks. Like "Ashita e no Kiseki" is great until a certain part which seems to come from a completely different song. It also starts to feel boring as his often uses very similar instruments, although in this game that is not the case which was a pleasant surprise.

All in all, I would say there are plenty of people that legitimately do not like his music but there are definitely just people that automatically hate any track of his without listening. Just try not to automatically dismiss criticism as that is on the same level as haters imo.

I have some criticisms of my own on Singa's music. I feel like his signature sound is those synths he loves using and sometimes he uses in parts of his songs that IMO feel out of place when he's got something good going on like A to Z. Other than that though, I guess I'm in the minority where I actually enjoy his music

[Smurf]

Sometimes Singa's music is okay, but he ruined Determination of Fight in the Sora no Kiseki Evo, so that's kinda where I began thinking, "these Evo tracks aren't really hitting it like the original..."

[Vayt]

From my understanding, at least according to random comments, is that Singa generally has really good hooks but the rest of the song is middling. Not sure if I agree with that but that seems to be the common comment. How much of this is actual criticism or people jumping on the hate train, I have no idea.

[Ghaleon]

The youtube comments on his stuff are definitely hammed up by people off their medication.

I personally think lots of his tracks tend to have small portions of some guitar riffs that seem to try a little bit too hard to be 'unique'. But it's often like 1 second, if that, in the whole track. I also think he's getting better over time, and can make some stand-out versions of tracks too. I think his geofront tracks are much better than originals IMO. Though in Reverie's at around the 1:00 min mark, he does the 'lets try hard to be unique' with the piano melody specifically that I was talking about earlier, but it by no means murders the track or anything.

In any case, if only his great work (steel fortress cough) had as much good commentary as his less impressive work gets people going rheee.

[Zekkn]

honestly i feel like im in the minority where most of the songs i remember and will listen to outside of the game aswell are from SINGA. the others arnt bad they have quite a few good tracks but i just prefer MOST of SINGA's tracks compared to the others. most of SINGA's songs also in my opinion fits the scene/battles they are played in more than other ones too which might help.

from what i have seen its just people that didnt like what he did with the evo tracks and have been stuck in that mindest since and cant get out of that rut. i will say there is usually a connection between people who hate SINGA and IGNORE sky's issue's/flaws but this is only across youtube comments and forums which im sure is just a very LOUD MINORITY so i wouldn't really pay mind to it.

you can describe to me in every detail why SINGA's songs dont work and why everyone else's is PERFECT but if i and many others would rather listen to his work over others most of the time than clearly it doesnt mean much in the grand scheme of things.

[Talithmara]

As someone who usually ignores online communities in general (I've only been active here the past few days out of sheer boredom) this is my first I'm hearing about all this.

BUT!

Seeing the mention of how they worked on the Evolution Soundtracks explains EVERYTHING. A few years ago I got curious and went to listen, and... why? Every single track I listened to was just... worse? I don't know how many of them were Singa or not, but yeah.

(And since fans "ignoring Sky's flaws" came up... A real fan acknowledges the flaws in the hopes that other games can learn from them and be even better. No game is perfect, and those claiming otherwise can be safely ignored, full stop. This DOES include the music... but I'll explain below why the Evolution soundtrack was so off.)

As a former band kid, the Evolution soundtrack felt like the whiplash I got when my own music teacher favored the trumpet. See, I had gone to all my older sister's concerts, and I knew "Okay, these three songs are like a staple of first year band, I hear the newest group playing them every year, and they sound like this. This particular song has the Sax carrying the melody and the trumpets belting out the very punchy harmony. This is how this is supposed to be." Now we had the Trumpets carrying the melody and everything else completely reshuffled to support the trumpets, leaving the woodwinds (flutes included) literally playing the bass that the instruments like trombones were supposed to be responsible for, because the trombones had the job of the trumpets in the other version. It did not work at all because I was familiar with a wildly better version and it was too radically different. It's jarring and potentially even upsetting for some people.

Now, this might sound a BIT drastic a comparison for the Evolution Soundtrack. And it probably is. But to be fair, I have no desire to re-listen to that version of the soundtrack to further refine my opinion, because I remember not enjoying it at all. There was a LOT of "wait what why" moments with the instrument choices. Yeah.