Sony Pixel Power calrec Sony

The Game Changers

29/11/2022

The Game Changers Metal Gear Solid and Halo composers Nobuko Toda '03 and Kazuma Jinnouchi '02 talk about the paths to their careers and what it takes to level up in the video-game industry.

By

Kimberly Ashton

November 26, 2022

Nobuko Toda 03 and Kazuma Jinnouchi 02

Image by James Day

In 2006, Nobuko Toda '03 was working on the music for the fourth installment of the blockbuster video game franchise Metal Gear Solid when she called her former classmate Kazuma Jinnouchi '02 to ask him to help her score the project.

Jinnouchi, who at the time was an arranger and indie pop-rock guitarist gigging around Tokyo, hadn't done any professional work as a screen scorer. Moreover, years prior, as a new student at Berklee, he had dropped any nascent idea he had harbored of pursuing film scoring after feeling overwhelmed by an introductory class. Sure he wasn't up to the task, Jinnouchi declined Toda's offer.

But Toda knew what Jinnouchi could bring to the project. As students, the two often had found themselves in the same classes and would listen to each other's music and give feedback. After graduation, they stayed in touch and occasionally worked together. In addition to knowing the quality of Jinnouchi's musical ideas, Toda knew that he was capable of working long hours in a demanding production environment, which is just what she needed in a collaborator on Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots.

All the orchestral things I could just teach him afterward, Toda said during a recent interview from Tokyo.

Swayed by his friend's insistence, Jinnouchi went through the demo process at Konami Digital Entertainment, makers of Metal Gear Solid, and got the job. The only thing left to do was to learn how to score a game. All these scoring things were so new to me, so Nobuko pretty much taught me how to write to the visual, Jinnouchi said.

The game was a hit, and the two continued to work together for the next five years as in-house composers at Konami subsidiary Kojima Productions. In 2011, Jinnouchi left the company to join the team making the latest Halo game, one of the industry's most famous franchises, at Microsoft's 343 Industries. A member of the in-house audio team, Jinnouchi served as an additional composer, music editor, music director, and music programmer on Halo 4, and brought in Toda, who was by then a freelancer, as an orchestrator and score producer.

For the next release in the franchise, Halo 5: Guardians, Jinnouchi was the composer, and Toda was the game's orchestrator and executive music producer. That game was the biggest Halo launch at the time, bringing in over $400 million in sales in its first week. (For comparison, the highest-grossing movie in history, 2009's Avatar, had an opening week of $137 million.)

Jinnouchi left Microsoft in 2018. Today, he and Toda both work as freelancers, and have collaborated on Marvel's Iron Man VR and many animated series, such as Ultraman, Ghost in the Shell SAC_2045, and Star Wars: Visions. They're currently working on a Japanese animated film as well as a major superhero franchise video game, due out in 2024.

Kazuma Jinnouchi 02

Image by James Day

During a busy August that found one or both of them in Tokyo, London, Prague, Kuala Lumpur, or Seattle, Toda and Jinnouchi dialed into a video call to talk about their music backgrounds, scoring a franchise game, trends in video game music, advice they'd give to aspiring video game composers, what they listen to when they drive, and more. Jinnouchi, who's lived in Seattle for 11 years, provided some translation for Toda, who's been primarily based in Tokyo. The interview has been edited for length and clarity.

Tell me about your early experiences with music. How old were you when you began playing instruments? Kazuma Jinnouchi: This goes back to elementary school, but I originally wanted to start taking piano lessons just because I was fascinated by the instrument by watching my teacher play. I was really small at the time so my parents didn't know if I would continue to be interested in that kind of musical instrument, so that request got rejected. Later, when I was in the third grade, I was looking at this picture of the flute. I think it was in the newspaper. And I thought it looked really cool I made the request again: Hey, if its flute, can I go take lessons? and then they said yes.

Nobuko Toda: I grew up in a very poor family. My father reduced his own allowance so that I could learn to play the piano and organ. When I started attending classes, my father picked up a small foot-pedal organ from somewhere and I played it every day. I had an electronic organ and the piano. I don't exactly remember how I started playing those instruments, but my mother told me that when I was very young I pointed out a picture of an electric organ in the newspaper and said I wanted to play it. I started playing for fun. I also would read picture books and then write original music to the book. I really liked to make storybooks too.

For quite a while I was self-taught on the instrument. The same for composition, for writing music. But when I wanted to enter a competition for electric organ performance, the requirement was also to perform my own music so I was writing for that every year.

How old were you then?

Nobuko Toda 03

Image by James Day

NT: From middle school to high school, so from around 11 or 12 to 16 or 17. My dream was to be a performer who toured abroad.

Kazuma, what was your involvement in music at that age? KJ: I was continuing to take my flute lessons throughout the rest of my elementary school and middle school years, and then I started getting into coding, [into] programming things, because all my friends were playing video games on the Nintendo system and I had asked my dad if
LINK: https://www.berklee.edu/berklee-now/news/the-game-changers...
See more stories from berklee

North America Stories

10/09/2026

Tedial to introduce Media Business Hub at IBC 2026

Tedial is introducing Media Business Hub (MBH) at IBC 2026, a new business enablement platform designed to help media organizations unlock the full value of the...

10/09/2026

Globecast Unveils Next Phase of Media Orchestration at IB...

Globecast, a leading provider of broadcast, media and entertainment managed services, will unveil the next phase of its transformation at IBC2026 with a preview...

10/09/2026

Fabric Data and TMT Insights Merge to Create Fabric Insig...

Fabric Data and TMT Insights today announced that the two companies are combining to create Fabric Insights, uniting authoritative data, purpose-built software,...

10/09/2026

Operative Launches Unified Platform to Transform Advertis...

Operative, the preferred advertising and broadcast management provider for the world's leading media brands, today announced a comprehensive slate of new pr...

10/09/2026

Leader announces new Sx2 handheld Test and Measurement se...

Test & measurement innovator, Leader Electronics of Europe, has announced the launch of its latest range of handheld signal generation, analysis and monitoring ...

10/09/2026

Kiloview Partners with Zixi to Deliver Reliable IP Video...

The partnership begins with native Zixi protocol support on the Kiloview D350 and will extend to deeper product integration and joint go-to-market initiatives ...

10/09/2026

Avid and FilmLight announce strategic partnership to reimagine the color pipeline for post production

Avid and FilmLight announce strategic partnership to reimagine the color pipelin...

10/09/2026

Maxon Brings Exclusive Preview of Fall Innovations to IBC2026

Maxon Brings Exclusive Preview of Fall Innovations to IBC2026 Brie Clayton September 10, 2026 0 Comments IBC attendees will get the first look at new ...

10/09/2026

Three Boston Conservatory Dance Alums Honored for Their Early-Career Promise

Three Boston Conservatory Dance Alums Honored for Their Early-Career Promise India Hobbs and Demetrius Lee received Princess Grace Awards, while Lilly David t...

10/09/2026

MonoNeon Returns to Berklee to Kick Off Signature Series

MonoNeon Returns to Berklee to Kick Off Signature Series The Grammy-winning bassist and alumnus performs with students and faculty from the Planet MicroJam In...

10/09/2026

Study: NFL Ad Revenue to Hit a Record $6.3 Billion

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

10/09/2026

Teradek Unveils Bolt 7 With 900MHz RF Pipeline

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

10/09/2026

Survey: Roku Remains Most Popular Streamer

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

10/09/2026

Sony Unveils Fourth Generation Of DWX Wireless Mics

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

10/09/2026

Scripps Revamps Local Media Regional Leadership Structure

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

10/09/2026

Boots on the Ground: WARDOGS' Goes All Out on GeForce NOW at Early-Access Launch

Gear up: The latest PC games and major updates are ready to play on GeForce NOW ...

10/09/2026

d-Matrix Adopts NVIDIA NVLink Fusion for Rack-Scale XPU Deployment

AI inference chipmaker d-Matrix today announced it will use NVIDIA NVLink Fusion to connect its next-generation Raptor XPUs to NVIDIA's AI infrastructure pl...

09/09/2026

IBC 2026: Sony Introduces SEL814G Fisheye Zoom G Lens

Sony Electronics has announced the SEL814G, the company's first fisheye zoom G Lens for full-frame Alpha E-mount cameras. The lens will be available in Octo...

09/09/2026

IBC 2026: Telestream Expands Practical AI Capabilities Across Vantage and UP Platform

Telestream has announced an expansion of its Practical AI capabilities across th...

09/09/2026

IBC 2026: Chyron and Haivision Announce Camera-to-Cloud Live Production Integration

Haivision and Chyron have announced a technology partnership integrating Haivisi...

09/09/2026

ManningCast Reveals 2026-27 Season Schedule with Heist Mini Movie

Omaha Productions has released ManningCast: Heist, a short film featuring Peyton and Eli Manning attempting to break into NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell's o...

09/09/2026

IBC 2026: Imagine Communications to Showcase XVR Updates

Imagine Communications will demonstrate the next evolution of XVR at IBC2026 (Stand 1.B73, RAI Amsterdam, September 11-14). XVR is Imagine's channel-in-a-b...

09/09/2026

IBC 2026: swXtch.io Launches AI Broadcast Orchestration Tool abbe

swXtch.io has announced abbe, an AI-based orchestration layer for live media workflows, making its world premiere at IBC2026 (Meeting Room 5.MR13, Hall 5, Septe...

09/09/2026

Inside the NFL Returns to X for Second Season, Marking 50th Anniversary

NFL Films has announced the second season of Inside the NFL on X as an X Original, premiering Wednesday, September 9. The series marks Inside the NFL's 50th...

09/09/2026

LiveU Expands AP Partnership with LU900Q Fleet and MAM Integration

LiveU has announced an expanded partnership with The Associated Press, deploying the largest fleet of LU900Q intelligent production units in the industry as par...

09/09/2026

Diversified to Consolidate New Jersey Operations into New Newark Facility

Diversified has announced plans to consolidate its four existing New Jersey locations into a new facility in Newark, expected to be fully operational by the end...

09/09/2026

IBC 2026: Wisycom Showcases MATF Antenna Matrix, PFL RFoF Box, and MPR60 Updates

Wisycom will exhibit new RF products at IBC2026 (Stand 8.D60, September 11-14), including the MATF Wideband Antenna Matrix, PFL Portable RF over Fiber Box, and ...

09/09/2026

IBC 2026: G&D and VuWall to Introduce vsNEO KVM-over-IP Platform

Guntermann & Drunck (G&D) and VuWall, both Panoptec companies, will introduce vsNEO at IBC2026 (Stand 8.B63, September 11, RAI Amsterdam). Pre-orders open in ea...

09/09/2026

Mo-Sys Completes Restructuring, Promotes Selin Kemal to Managing Director

Mo-Sys has completed a business restructuring and relocated to a new facility in Canada Water, London. As part of the reorganization, Selin Kemal has been promo...

09/09/2026

Aicox and TAG Video Systems Power Monitoring for Telefnicas TSAmediaHUB

Aicox has integrated TAG Video Systems' Core monitoring platform into Telef nica's TSAmediaHUB audiovisual contribution and distribution infrastructure....

09/09/2026

IBC 2026: Blackmagic Design Releases DaVinci Resolve 21.1

Blackmagic Design has released DaVinci Resolve 21.1, a free update available now through the Blackmagic Design website. The release adds new AI tools, workflow ...

09/09/2026

ESPN and Apple Music Collaborate on Monday Night Football Music Curation for 2026-27 Season

ESPN and Apple Music have announced a collaboration on music curation for Monday...

09/09/2026

Sacramento Production Services Deploys Wisycom RF System at Sutter Health Park

Sacramento Production Services has completed a wireless audio overhaul at Sutter Health Park, home of the Athletics during their three-year residency in Sacrame...

09/09/2026

NDI and NVIDIA Collaborate on AI-Powered Multilingual Content Workflows

NDI and NVIDIA have announced a collaboration to develop AI-powered workflows enabling broadcasters to create and distribute multilingual content from a single ...

09/09/2026

Sports Broadcasting Hall of Fame Announces the Class of 2026

Christopher Chip Adams, Troy Aikman, Jim Dove, Jim Eady, Bucky Gunts, Robert A. Iger, Charlie Jablonski, Robert Kraft, Tom Rinaldi, and Dick Stockton to be ho...

09/09/2026

NBC Sports Opens 21st SNF Season With Expanded Schedule, Traveling Studio Show, and Bulked Up Toolkit

ND2 returns as the primary unit, While FNIA gets SSQC and new flexible Rover...

09/09/2026

Nielsen launches CTV Ad spend data into its Italian Ad Intel product

Italy launch follows UK and Germany as Nielsen expands product across EMEA Milan, Italy, September 9, 2026 - Nielsen, a global leader in audience measurement, ...

09/09/2026

Gracenote Expands AI Product Roadmap with Sports MCP Server, Entertainment SLM and Agents

Planned solutions tackle accuracy, cost and latency barriers to deploying AI at ...

09/09/2026

Dalet Promotes Brian Doheny to CEO

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

09/09/2026

Studio Technologies Expands StudioComm Monitoring With In...

Studio Technologies, a leading manufacturer of high-quality audio, video, and fiber-optic solutions, introduces its new Model 791 Control Console at IBC 2026 (N...

09/09/2026

Maxon Brings Exclusive Preview of Fall Innovations to IBC...

Maxon, maker of powerful, approachable software solutions for creators working in 2D and 3D design, motion graphics, visual effects and visualization, is headin...

09/09/2026

NUGEN Audio Leads the Dialog Intelligibility Conversation...

NUGEN Audio unveils DialogCheck v1.2, the latest evolution of its intelligent dialog intelligibility and compliance tool, at IBC 2026 (Pod P27). With a sharpene...

09/09/2026

Trusted Partner Network Launches Fix It or Risk It to Hel...

Trusted Partner Network Launches Fix It or Risk It to Help the Entertainment Industry Tackle Everyday Security Risks Industry-Wide Campaign Launches at IBC2...

09/09/2026

FCC to Vote on Opening Up Spectrum for Satellite, IoT

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

09/09/2026

NDI, NVIDIA Collaborate On Real-Time AI Multilingual Content

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

09/09/2026

83 percent of UK advertisers are using AI but speed and n...

AI has moved firmly beyond experimentation in UK advertising, with more than eight in ten marketers (83%) now actively using or piloting AI in production, accor...

09/09/2026

Pixitmedia by DataCore to showcase cloud and connected pr...

IBC2026 - Stand 7.D22 At IBC2026, Pixitmedia by DataCore will showcase its latest capabilities designed to simplify distributed production, accelerate workflow...

09/09/2026

Net Insight Showcases Open Live Media for Controlled Live...

Stockholm, Sweden September 9th, 2026 At IBC2026, on booth 1.B47, Net Insight will showcase Open Live Media, its architecture for delivering resilient live ...

09/09/2026

Net Insight and DMC expand repeatable remote production m...

Net Insight today announced that DMC Production Norway is continuing the use of its Open Live Media technology for premium European football, deploying Nimbra 5...