About

Laura Shigihara has been working as a freelance video game composer and sound designer since 2005, and prior to that worked as an audio director for a Japanese company. She’s created music and sound effects for over 25 published titles since then, ranging in genre from orchestral themes, to quirky uptempo boss battles, and even including songs featuring her own vocal tracks. Her most recent work was the soundtrack for the game “Plants vs. Zombies.” Laura has been a fan of video game music since the days of the original 8-bit Nintendo; a time when a composer didn’t have access to high-end production materials, and as a result, had to rely solely on their creativity and talents as a composer. Looking up to these composers, one of Laura’s strengths has always been her creativity. Her music has been compared to that of Yoko Shimomura and Yasunori Mitsuda in terms of style.

Graduating from UC Berkeley with a degree in International Relations and Business, Laura decided to pursue a career in music after an unexpected detour landed her record contract offers in Japan for singing and production. Although she didn’t accept for various reasons, she still chose a music related job working as the audio director of a Japanese-American company where she created music and sound effects, and co-hosted an audio talkshow. Shortly after she began composing for game soundtracks. After completing several contracts, she decided to make it her career.

In addition to work, in her spare time Laura has been making an rpg for the PC called “Melolune” which she hopes to release sometime in 2012. Laura also teaches piano to elementary school children twice a week, and occasionally plays the piano and sings at venues around her area, from Yoshi’s Jazz Club to local events. In her spare time, she enjoys baking, hiking, dancing, drawing, going on adventures, and of course games (some of her favorites include Chrono Trigger, Starcraft, Yoshi’s Island, Secret of Mana, the Megaman series, Suikoden, Street Fighter 2, Star Tropics, and many others).

Interviews:
Gamasutra
IndieGames.com (Play for Japan interview with Yasunori Mitsuda)
IndieGames.com (Melolune Soundtrack)
Indiegames.com (Indie Composer Chat)
WoW Insider
Play as Life
Spawn Kill
Crispy Gamer
Gametunes
Compagnon-Parfait

Press:
The Escapist
WoW Insider
MSNBC
GameInformer
Kotaku
Rock, Paper, Shotgun
Topless Robot
Kotaku: The Soundtrack to the Botanical Apocalypse
Electricpic
Wired
TIGsource: We Love Indie Game Music