is a Japanese video game composer and sound director

Director of audiography

The Director of Audiography is the head of the sound department and the person responsible for planning the audiography and managing the audiographers of a film....

 employed at Namco Bandai Games

Namco Bandai Games

is an arcade, mobile and home video game developer and publisher based in Japan which is the product of a merger between the video game development divisions of Bandai and Namco. Namco Bandai Games is a wholly owned subsidiary of Namco Bandai Holdings and specializes in production and sales of...

. He is best known for his work on the Soul

Soul (series)

The is a weapon-based historical fantasy fighting game series by Namco Bandai Games. The series revolves around a sword that, after years of bloodshed and hatred, gained a soul of its own, the Soul Edge, and the sword forged to counter it, Soul Calibur. The series is special in that each character...

series.

Biography

Growing up, Junichi Nakatsuru always enjoyed music, playing around with instruments while listening to music on the radio as a boy. His parents provided him with classical piano lessons, and he would always play popular songs with his own arrangements instead of practicing for the lesson. While attending high school, Nakatsuru played the trombone

Trombone

The trombone is a musical instrument in the brass family. Like all brass instruments, sound is produced when the player’s vibrating lips cause the air column inside the instrument to vibrate...

 in a brass band

Brass band

A brass band is a musical ensemble generally consisting entirely of brass instruments, most often with a percussion section. Ensembles that include brass and woodwind instruments can in certain traditions also be termed brass bands , but are usually more correctly termed military bands, concert...

, and was a keyboardist and band composer in his private life. He majored in art at the university and studied music theory, acoustics, and desktop music (DTM), although he was more interested in making original songs and playing them in a band.

Musical style and influences

Nakatsuru mostly incorporates orchestral tracks into his soundtracks. Commenting on the use of a live orchestra, he notes that it is vital for the scenes with a very emotional presentation and sampled instruments are not enough to express the emotion. On the other hand, he has stated that fierce battle scenes may need speed and tension that can only be done with a computer. He feels that "Audio is a key element in making scenes more evocative and expressive, thereby empathizing with the players in various situations." Nakatsuru has said that the orchestral sound of John Williams

John Williams

John Towner Williams is an American composer, conductor, and pianist. In a career spanning almost six decades, he has composed some of the most recognizable film scores in the history of motion pictures, including the Star Wars saga, Jaws, Superman, the Indiana Jones films, E.T...

' soundtrack to Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace

Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace

Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace is a 1999 American epic space opera film written and directed by George Lucas. It is the fourth film to be released in the Star Wars saga, as the first of a three-part prequel to the original Star Wars trilogy, as well as the first film in the saga in terms...

has deeply influenced him.

Discography

Video games
Year	Title	Role	Co-worker
1998	Soulcalibur	Composition	several others
	Time Crisis II Time Crisis II Time Crisis II is a light gun arcade game and the second installment in Namco's Time Crisis series, introducing co-operative multiplayer to the franchise...	Composition/sound effects	Kazuhiro Nakamura
2002	Soulcalibur II	Composition	several others
2004	Ace Combat 5: The Unsung War Ace Combat 5: The Unsung War , released in the PAL region as Ace Combat: Squadron Leader, is a semi-realistic flight combat video game for the PlayStation 2. Like other titles in Namco's Ace Combat series, Ace Combat 5 features gameplay that is a mix between arcade flight and authentic flight simulation...	Composition	Keiki Kobayashi, Tetsukazu Nakanishi, and Hiroshi Okubo Hiroshi Okubo is a Japanese video game composer and musician. He works as musician for Namco since 1994, he is best known for his work for Ridge Racer and Ace Combat series...
	Tekken 5 Tekken 5 is the sixth installment in the popular Tekken series. It also marks the tenth anniversary of the series. It was updated for the PlayStation Portable and PlayStation 3 as Tekken 5: Dark Resurrection and succeeded by Tekken 6.- Story :...	Sound design	many others
2005	Urban Reign Urban Reign -External links:*** at GameSpot* at IGN* at MobyGames...	Composition	several others
	Soulcalibur III	Composition	Ryuichi Takada and Keiki Kobayashi
	Ridge Racer 6 Ridge Racer 6 Ridge Racer 6 has received generally positive reviews.Pro-G gave the game 8/10, calling it "the closest I've seen to an arcade racer on a home console, in both looks and playability." Gamespy awarded Ridge Racer 6 4.5/5 praising its "killer graphics" and "great presentation", but criticising its...	Composition	many others
2006	Ace Combat Zero: The Belkan War Ace Combat Zero: The Belkan War is a semi-realistic flight simulator developed by Namco for the PlayStation 2 video game console. It is part of the Ace Combat series of games...	Composition	Keiki Kobayashi, Tetsukazu Nakanishi, and Hiroshi Okubo
2007	Ace Combat 6: Fires of Liberation Ace Combat 6: Fires of Liberation is the sixth installment developed by Project Aces and published by Namco Bandai Games exclusively for the Xbox 360 as part of the Ace Combat franchise...	Composition	several others
2008	Soulcalibur IV Soulcalibur IV is the fourth installment in Namco's Soul series of fighting games. The game was released for the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 on July 29, 2008, in North America, on July 31, 2008, in Japan, Europe, and Australia, and on August 1, 2008, in the United Kingdom and New Zealand.The game is notable for...	Composition	Masaharu Iwata Masaharu Iwata is a Japanese video game composer. After graduating from high school, where his musical projects included composing on a synthesizer and playing in a cover band, he joined Bothtec as a composer. He composed the soundtrack to several games there, beginning with 1987's Bakusou Buggy Ipatsu Yarou, and... , Keiki Kobayashi, and Hiroyuki Fujita