Dear Reader:
Composer David Wise looks back on his Donkey Kong Country work, how it influenced his Yooka-Laylee
A portion of a SoundArchitect interview with David Wise...
SA: Now you’ve composed for really iconic games, one of which is the excellent Donkey Kong Country series. Tell us a bit about your work on those and what your approach was to those games?
DW: My approach to those games was centred around making the most of the 64k of memory available for audio in the SNES Audio Chip. I was heavily influenced technically by a keyboard called the Korg Wavestation. This re-sequenced very small samples in different orders to make very ethereal sounds with movement – using very little memory – so I adapted the technique for the SNES.
I had also purchased a Saxophone – and was very inspired by Big Band and Latin music.
Also – I had started listening properly to the sound tracks of animated family movies – how they go straight for the Cliche – and define that cliche even further. These were the main influences when composing the DKC soundtracks.
SA: Have you intentionally drawn on a lot of your previous work to infuse Yooka-Laylee with that nostalgic feel?
DW: I think nostalgia is very important in any experience. As a team we’re all very lucky to have lots of experience to draw on, and hopefully the audience will all benefit from our combined pedigree.