Akira Yamaoka

Akira Yamaoka studied at Tokyo University of the Arts. The recorded working language is Japanese. The field of work recorded is video game music. Subjects and genres recorded for the work are rock, dark ambient and trip hop. Employment is recorded with Konami. Works named in the authority record are Silent Hill 4: The Room - Original Soundtrack.

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.

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. Although initially hired as a composer, he soon became involved in the game's overall sound design. 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. From late October to early November 2015, Yamaoka and his band travelled to the United Kingdom for their Silent Hill Live tour, during which they performed songs from the Silent Hill series at venues in Brighton, Bristol, Cardiff, Glasgow, London, Manchester, and Southampton. In July 2016, he performed live at the BitSummit 4th indie game festival in Kyoto.

Yamaoka is married to fellow musician Ai "Tamu" Murata, best known as the drummer of the heavy metal band Nemophila. They have two daughters together. In March 2011, Yamaoka auctioned off some of his musical instruments to raise funds for charity after the Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami.