Falcom Sound Team jdk (ファルコム・サウンド・チーム・jdk) is the collective name for Falcom's sound production staff, originally founded by Mieko Ishikawa in late-1988. This alias first appeared in Star Trader (as simply "J.D.K."), released in March 1989. The unit got later renamed to "Falcom Sound Team J.D.K." in early 1990, and the "J.D.K." pseudonym got renamed to "jdk" with the release of Revival Xanadu in April 1995.
Since its formation, all composition and arrangement duties in Falcom games has been conducted under the name of "Falcom Sound Team jdk (J.D.K.)". For this reason, although its members are credited in-game, the composer/arranger of each individual track remains officially unknown. In addition to this, all Falcom music composed pre-1989 has been retroactively attributed to the "Sound Team J.D.K./jdk" moniker. Such is the case with Yuzo Koshiro's work.
Not to be confused with "jdk (J.D.K.) BAND", a freelance unit that performs arrangements of Falcom music at live concerts, arrange albums and so on. Since the performers are contractors/not Falcom employees, they are not part of Sound Team jdk and do not compose Falcom music. There's a few exceptions, like Toshiharu Okajima and Noriyuki Kamikura, who have composed music for Falcom between 2012 and 2014, but their authorship has been bought by Falcom and attributed to "Sound Team jdk", similarly like they did with Yuzo Koshiro's compositions back when he left Falcom after completing work on Ys II in mid-1988. The same has been done with Yukihiro Jindo and Mitsuo Singa's contracted work for Falcom.
Sound team rules and methods of operation[]
- It is extremely rare for Sound Team jdk members to use real instruments on their music. If a composition/arrangement uses live instrumentation, that means it's been outsourced to some degree. Takeshita confirmed that guitar in Ys Origin's "Genesis Beyond the Beginning" was a live one performed by a contractor.[1]
- Sound Team jdk handles everything related to sound design and music production. This also includes sound effect creation and voice editing, as well as music composition/arrangement.
- Because Falcom is a small company with a compact corporate culture, it is not uncommon for employees to perform multiple tasks concurrently. Sound Team jdk members are no exception. "Multiple tasks" includes non-music related work, like scenario writing, website upkeep, and/or bug testing.
- If a Sound Team jdk employee leaves Falcom before the game they worked on goes gold, their name will be removed from the credits, no matter how much music they have composed.
- Falcom often uses stock music that current Sound Team jdk members have composed in the past. In other words: sometimes they use previously rejected tracks in newer games.
- Sometimes Falcom also uses previously rejected music by former composers after they leave, like in the case of Ryo Takeshita, Masanori Osaki or Tomokatsu Hagiuda.
- Sound Team jdk was not involved with outsourced ports like Hudson's PC Engine CD versions of Ys I & II, Ys III and Ys IV or Trails in the Sky, Trails from Zero and Trails To Azure Evolution arrangements, nor certain ports/remakes like Ys: The Oath in Felghana or Ys I & II Chronicles. In addition, 95% of arrange albums are handled by third-parties.
- Contractors usually get an "Arrangement" credit on album booklets. Sometimes this is true, but other times it's not and the "arrangers" are actually "composers". In other words, Falcom outsources compositions, but isn't giving the contracted composers the proper credit.
- The individual per-track performer credits are also no longer revealed, in an attempt to hide the outsourced activity in recent soundtracks.
- All Falcom music composed prior to the formation of Sound Team J.D.K. (i.e. late-1988) has been retroactively credited as such. This includes all of Koshiro's Falcom work.
Current members[]
- Hayato Sonoda
- Takahiro Unisuga (Inactive)
- Shuntaro Koguchi
Former members[]
- Toshiya Takahashi
- Takahito Abe
- Yuzo Koshiro
- Mieko Ishikawa
- Masaya Hashimoto
- Hideya Nagata
- Tomoyoshi Miyazaki
- Reiko Takebayashi
- Masaaki Kawai
- Atsushi Shirakawa
- Naoki Kaneda
- Masaru Nakajima
- Takahiro Tsunashima
- Hirofumi Matsuoka
- Satoshi Arai
- Kaname Ohara
- Hirokazu Matsumura
- Wataru Ishibashi
- Maiko Hattori
- Takahide Murayama
- Ryo Takeshita
- Saki Momiyama
- Masanori Osaki
- Tomokatsu Hagiuda
- Atsume Hashimoto
Current contractors[]
Former contractors[]
- Ryo Yonemitsu
- Masashi "Jill" Okagaki
- Kohei Wada
- Kimitaka Kogo
- Ayako Shibazaki
- Toshiharu Okajima
- Noriyuki Kamikura
- Jun Hoshina
- Muneaki Hoshikawa
- Shunsuke Minami
Trivia[]
- According to the liner notes of the album "Ys IV VS The Legend of Xanadu J.D.K. BAND 4", J.D.K. stands for "Japan Dynamite Kids" or "Jumping Digital Kids". The initial meaning of the abbreviation isn't entirely clear, however.[2]
References[]
External links[]
- Falcom Sound Team jdk at the Kiseki Wiki
- Falcom Sound Team jdk Maniacs
- Falcom composer breakdown project