Soichi Terada

Soichi Terada (寺田 創一, Terada Sōichi, born March 19, 1965, in Tokyo, Japan) is a Japanese electronic music composer, best known for his work in the Ape Escape video game series.

Terada majored in computer science and electronic organ at the University of Electro-Communications. After graduating in 1989, he formed the record label Far East Recording. This led him to begin remixing for artists such as Nami Shimada and Akiko Kanazawa. His first major solo project was composing the score to the Japanese drama Psychometrer Eiji.[1]

He formed the musical group Omodaka with Kanazawa. Omodaka has released several albums, including Fortunate 1mark, Yosawya san, Kyoteizinc, Cantata no.147, Favorite Games, Plum Song, Sanosa, Bridge Song and Gujoh Bushi.[2]

Terada has also contributed his work to various video games. His first video game soundtrack was the score to Wangan Trial in 1998. A year later, he began working on the soundtrack for the Ape Escape series of video games, eventually composing for seven games.[3] Terada achieved fame additionally as a deep house producer. He began releasing records in the late 1980s, DJing in a nightclub called P. Picasso.[4] Since the release of the Sounds from the Far East compilation on the Rush Hour label, Terada has been enjoying underground success and renewed interest outside Japan. He toured Europe and North America for the first time in 2016.[5][6]