Sound Designer Profile

Soundscape 2017
Anabel Saise
9/2/2017
 Sound Director in Square Enix , a long time member of staff
cooperating with musical directors in creating and editing sounds
for some familiar games from this generation:
Tomohiro Xenogears (1998)
Yajima Vagrant Story (2000)
Final Fantasy XIII (2009)
Final Fantasy XIII - 2 (2014)
 Tomohiro Yajima has been working for the company Square Enix
since 1996. Prior to this, he was working freelance in sound
engineering. While his title of sound director may assume a non
direct approach to design, this is not necessarily reflective of his role
in creating specific sounds for what happens in the games. A lot of
the time he closely monitored the creations of the noises for
jumping, interface jingles and other magical beeps.
Biography He takes a very direct approach to his work, recording hours of long
sessions to get what he needs. The work involved is often very in
depth, including the usage of a foley stage under strict instruction
according to whatever a scene requires.
A foley stage is a place where reproduction of everyday noises and
sounds can be recreated.
 The bulk of his work on Final Fantasy XIII and its related subsequent
releases involved working in close cooperation with the musical
composer Masashi Hamauzu. Due to the depth and nature of the
futuristic world intended to be aurally enriched, a lot of sounds had
to have been derived from the surroundings. For example, the shops
in Final Fantasy XIII had different sounds depending on their
individual styles.
Biography
Sound effects are like air. You dont really think about how important
it is, but you cant go without it Its never an element thats front and
center, but a very important factor that really affects a games story,
visuals and players emotions in a big way. Tomohiro Yajima
(Napolitano J. 2010)
 Napolitano, J. and Yajima, T. Tomohiro Yajima (2010) Interview By
Original Sound Version.
http://www.originalsoundversion.com/final-fantasy-xiii-sound-
director-tomohiro-yajima-interview/
Napolitano, J. and Kawamori, K. Hamauzu, M. Mizuta, N. Suzuki,
Bibliography M. Yajima, T. (2012) Square Enix Sound Design Team Interview by
Destructiod.
https://www.destructoid.com/exclusive-meet-final-fantasy-xiii-2-s-
sound-team-220375.phtml
What is Foley?
https://www.sound-ideas.com/Page/what-is-foley.aspx