#74 - David Wise Interview (Donkey Kong Country, Tropical Freeze, Kenji Yamamoto, Film, HEX etc.)

David Wise Is considered one of the greatest video game composers
of all time primarily for his score on the Donkey Kong Country
games, he is also one of the sampled video game composers as
artists such as Drake & Childish Gambino have sampled his
music in songs.


SOCIAL MEDIA


Website - www.davidwise.co.uk


Twitter - @David_Wise


 


TIMESTAMPS


00:00 - Intro


00:33 - NDA’s


01:12 - Work Post Donkey Kong


01:58 - David Didn’t Realise How Big His Donkey Kong Soundtrack
Was Until The Internet Blew Up


02:29 - OC-Remix


02:47 - Donkey Kong Country 2/Pushing The Tech For SNES


03:52 - Jamming Sam Miller/Compressed Sounds


06:06 - Delay Had To Be Simulated


06:52 - Chucking Grant Kirkhope In The Deep End With HEX


07:48 - Haunted Hall


09:43 - Being Isolated/Covid


10:14 - David Would Hum Tunes Before Recording In HEX


11:05 - Krooks March/Castle Theme


12:15 - Problem Solving


12:45 - Tropical Freeze Is What DKC Would Sound Like Without
Limitations


13:29 - Live Instrumentation On Tropical Freeze


14:04 - Collaboration With Retro


14:45 - Kenji Yamamoto’s Involvement In Tropical Freeze


15:56 - Translators With Kenji Yamamoto


17:08 - David Praises Kenji’s Music On Metroid


17:47 - Time David Would Spend At Retro


18:28 - Writers Block


19:20 - Visual Cues To Composing Well Working On Donkey Kong


20:55 - Time It Would Take To Compose On One Track


21:33 - High Tide Ride


22:36 - David Was Largely Left To Do What He Wants


23:23 - Felt Nice To Do Tropical Freeze As Donkey Kong Put Him On
The Map


24:14 - Doing Different Genres


25:34 - David Would Like To Work On Film/Advantages Of Scoring
For Film


26:50 - Film Scoring Process Vs Game Scoring Process


27:40 - Escaping The Stigma


28:05 - David Would Like To Score For Smash Bros


29:00 - David’s Time In Japan/Nintendo Are Secretive


29:46 - Rare & Retro Culture Difference


30:40 - So Many Rappers Sampling His Music In Hip-Hop


32:05 - David Is Working On Multiple Projects Right Now


32:50 - Covid Has Caused Him Delays


35:40 - David’s Process To Compose       
   


38:30 - What Instruments David Uses To Compose


39:06 - Collaborating With The Former Rare Composes


40:25 - David Tries To Outdo His Previous Compositions


41:45 - Working Under Pressure/Mixing


43:39 - A Lot Of Different Instruments Used In Tropical
Freeze/Quantising


45:26 - Stickerbrush Symphony Credits Music In Tropical Freeze


46:33 - Nintendo Told David When To Remix Previous DKC Tracks For
Tropical Freeze


46:55 - Aquatic Ambience


48:17 - How Remixes In Tropical Freeze Ended Up There


49:58 - No 2 Days Are The Same When Composing


50:39 - Aquatic Ambience Took 5 Weeks To Write


52:38 - David Will Never Go Back To HEX


53:20 - Saving Time When Composing


55:17 - Where To Follow David Wise