Kiwi Talkz #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