Akira Yamaoka

is a Japanese composer and sound designer. He has scored almost every installment of Konami's horror video game series Silent Hill since 1999, also producing some of the entries and composing for three film adaptations. He has been the sound director at Grasshopper Manufacture since 2010 and has served as director and sound designer at Supertrick Games since 2018.

Early life Akira Yamaoka was born in Niigata on February 6, 1968. He sought to become a designer, but instead became a musician whilst studying product design and interior design at Tokyo Art College.

Career Yamaoka joined Konami on September 21, 1993. He immediately began to work on the games Contra: Hard Corps, Sparkster, and Sparkster: Rocket Knight Adventures 2. Shortly thereafter, he worked on the music for the PC Engine and Sega CD versions of Snatcher.

When Konami began searching for a musician to compose the score for Silent Hill, Yamaoka volunteered because he thought he was the only one capable of making the soundtrack. He later named Silent Hill 2 as his favorite of his own soundtracks.

On December 2, 2009, it was announced that Yamaoka was leaving Konami. On February 3, 2010, he joined Grasshopper Manufacture and began working with Goichi Suda and Shinji Mikami on their action game Shadows of the Damned. He was first appointed to the role of chief sound officer at Grasshopper, but became involved in aspects of game production as well.

On August 10, 2012, Yamaoka announced he would be releasing a second solo album in late 2012 that would be "different from the usual Silent Hill music". On October 31, he announced that the new three-track Spanish-language EP Revolución would premiere at V-CON during a live performance. In 2014, he expressed interest in returning as a composer for Silent Hills, although the project was later cancelled. In July 2016, he performed live at the BitSummit 4th indie game festival in Kyoto.

Style and influences Yamaoka has named Suda51 as his favorite game creator and No More Heroes (2007) as his favorite video game. He has also named Dario Argento's Suspiria (1977) as his favorite film.

In July 2010, Yamaoka was invited by the website Nintendo Life to curate a short playlist for a new series exploring "the musical tastes of notable video game creators and figures". His playlist consisted of "Moon Over Moscow" by Visage, "Der Mussolini" by Deutsch Amerikanische Freundschaft, "Amber" by Craig Armstrong, "Moments in Love" by Art of Noise, and "The Ecstasy of Gold" by Ennio Morricone.

In March 2011, Yamaoka auctioned off some of his musical instruments to raise funds for charity after the Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami. 2002 Contra: Shattered Soldier with Sota Fujimori 2003 Silent Hill 3 Silent Hill: The Escape

Silent Hill: Homecoming Otomedius Gorgeous! arrangements 2009 Silent Hill: Shattered Memories 2010 No More Heroes 2: Desperate Struggle with several others

Shadows of the Damned Rebuild of Evangelion: Sound Impact arrangements

Sine Mora Liberation Maiden Lollipop Chainsaw music director Silent Hill: Book of Memories guitarist on "Love Psalm (Book of Memories)" Black Knight Sword

Rotolla Killer Is Dead music director

Ranko Tsukigime's Longest Day Murasaki Baby "Neeko" 2015 Persona 4: Dancing All Night "Time To Make History" remix

Puzzle & Dragons X with Kenji Ito, Yuzo Koshiro, and Keigo Ozaki The Silver Case arrangements, "WHITEOUT" Let It Die music director

Astro Boy: Edge of Time World of Tanks "Battle in Japan" with Andrius Klimka 2018 The 25th Ward: The Silver Case with Baiyon, Erika Ito, and Masafumi Takada

Dead by Daylight Chapter XVI: Silent Hill Ninjala with several others World of Tanks "Mirny-13 – Hangar Theme" with Aleksandr Khilko and Aleksey Vanchuk

The Medium with Arkadiusz Reikowski

Deathverse: Let It Die

Decarnation Stray Souls

Silent Hill: The Short Message Silent Hill 2 Remake Slitterhead

Silent Hill f with Kensuke Inage, Dai, and Koichi "Xaki" Sakita Let It Die: Inferno Sound Director Total Chaos with several others; theme and end credits 2026 Pathologic 3 composer of an original track

Films Year Title Notes 2006 Silent Hill with Jeff Danna, also executive producer 2011 Julia X "Julia's Wish" 2012 Silent Hill: Revelation with Jeff Danna 2014 Patema Inverted sound director 2017 Kuso with Flying Lotus, Aphex Twin, Thundercat, and various others 2023 Joshurei 2026 Return to Silent Hill also executive producer

Anime/television Year Title Notes 2022 Cyberpunk: Edgerunners Anime series based on Cyberpunk 2077

Other Year Title Notes 2006 iFuturelist 2011 "Ex Animo" by Play for Japan: The Album with various others Sdatcher An episodic radio drama prequel of Snatcher 2012 Revolución "Rinkaku (Eternal Slumber Mix)" by Dir En Grey 2013 "Rose Cat" by World 1-2 with various others 2014 "Sustain the Untruth (Remix)" by Dir En Grey 2016 Enn Mo Takenawa "Yuigon Zakura"