Naoki Maeda

Naoki Maeda (前田尚紀 Maeda Naoki), more commonly called simply Naoki, is a Japanese music composer and producer who works for Konami. Naoki's official title is Konami AM Internal Sound Team.

Though Naoki worked on many different video game titles like Salamander, his most known contribution is to the Bemani series: he's the main composer for the Dance Dance Revolution games. Most of his songs are signed with a pseudonym.

Contents

1 Naoki: mystery man 2 Pseudonyms 3 Music partners 4 Songs produced 4.1 Dance Dance Revolution 4.2 beatmania 4.3 beatmania IIDX 4.4 Dance Maniax 4.5 GuitarFreaks & DrumMania 4.6 pop'n music 4.7 ParaParaParadise 5 See also

Naoki: mystery man

Little information on Naoki is revealed officially: for example, on an interview with several music producers released in the DDRMAX USA booklet, Naoki's profile was the least complete, not revealing his age or how much time he's been working for Konami.

It has been speculated by some fans that Naoki Maeda is not his real name; "Naoki M." happens to be an anagram for "Konami." This has led some fans to believe this is just another pseudonym. However, there is no solid proof (other than speculation) that Naoki Maeda is not in fact his real name. Given the fact that Maeda is a common Japanese surname and Naoki is a very common Japanese given name, it is possible that people are simply reading into a coincidence.

Pseudonyms

See also Bemani pseudonyms

Naoki uses at least two dozen pseudonyms in attributing his work.

However, he is sometimes confused with other artists. Some pseudonyms attributed to Naoki which are not him are:

• 2MB – Konami artist U1-Asami
• STM200 – composer of a fan-made remix of "PARANOiA" (PARANOiA Eternal) and winner of the Dance Dance Revolution 5th Mix musicianship trial contest

Music partners

Though he writes many instrumental songs alone, several of Naoki's songs feature vocals, which are performed by others. Commonly featured singers include Aaron G. and Paula Terry.

He's also worked together with many other artists: Naoki is the composer and producer for the group BeForU, and with jun (Junko Karashima) he makes some songs under the name TËЯRA; along with dj TAKA he worked on "Kakumei", a remix of Chopin's "Revolutionary Etude".

Songs produced

Dance Dance Revolution

Dance Dance Revolution (1stMIX):

• "Make it better"
• "Paranoia"
• "Trip Machine"

Dance Dance Revolution 2ndMIX:

• "AM-3P"
• "Brilliant 2U"
• "Brilliant 2U (Orchestra Groove)"
• "Keep on Movin'"
• "Let them move"
• "Paranoia MAX -Dirty Mix-"
• "Put your faith in me"
• "Put your faith in me -Jazz Mix-"
• "SP-Trip Machine Jungle Mix"

Dance Dance Revolution 3rdMIX:

• "Afronova"
• "Dead end" (co-produced with Sota Fujimori)
• "Dynamite Rave"
• "End of the century"
• "Paranoia Rebirth"

Dance Dance Revolution 4thMIX:

• "Theme from Enter the Dragon (revival 2001 mix)"
• "Hypnotic Crisis"
• "B4U"
• "Burnin' the floor"
• "Love again tonight ~for melissa mix~"
• "Higher"
• "Orion .78"
• "My summer love"
• "Baby baby gimme your love"
• "Trip Machine Climax"

Dance Dance Revolution 4thMIX (Console Ver.):

• "Let the beat hit'em! (Classic R&B style)"

Dance Dance Revolution Solo:

• "Paranoia Evolution"
• "Can't help falling in love"
• "Celebrate nite"
• "Super star"
• "Sexy Planet"
• "Hysteria"
• "Drop out"
• "Let the beat hit'em!"

Dance Dance Revolution 5thMIX:

• "Ecstasy"
• "Healing Vision"
• "B4U Glorious Style"
• "Can't stop falling in love (Speed mix)"
• "Dynamite Rave (Long ver.)"
• "祭 Japan"
• "Remember you"
• "Still in my heart"
• "Insertion"

DDRMAX: Dance Dance Revolution 6thMIX:

• "Candy☆"
• "Exotic Ethnic"
• "MAX 300"

DDRMAX2: Dance Dance Revolution 7thMIX:

• "Afronova -B4 ZA BEAT Mix-"
• "AM-3P (AM east mix)"
• "B4U (B4 ZA BEAT MIX)"
• "BRILLIANT 2U (K.O.G G3 MIX)"
• "BURNIN' THE FLOOR (BLUE FIRE mix)"
• "CELEBRATE NITE (EURO TRANCE STYLE)"
• "D2R"
• "Destiny"
• "DROP OUT (K.O.G REMIX)"
• "DYNAMITE RAVE (B4 ZA BEAT MIX)"
• "ECSTASY (midnight blue mix)"
• "HIGHER (next morning mix)"
• "祭 JAPAN (K.O.G REMIX)"
• "Maxx Unlimited"
• "MY SUMMER LOVE (TOMMY'S SMILE MIX)"
• "革命" (co-produced with Takayuki Ishikawa)
• "Secret Rendez-Vous"
• "SEXY PLANET (MOMO REMIX)"
• "STILL IN MY HEART (MOMO MIX)"
• "SUPER STAR (DJ NIKAIDO & E. ISOMURA REMIX)"
• "Tsugaru"
• "TSUGARU (APPLE MIX)"
• "WILD RUSH (PCM REMIX)"

Dance Dance Revolution EXTREME:

• "1998"
• "bag"
• "BURNIN' THE FLOOR (MOMO MIX)"
• "Dance Dance Revolution"
• "HYPER EUROBEAT"
• "PARANOiA survivor"
• "PARANOiA survivor MAX"
• "TEARS"
• "The legend of MAX"
• "TRIP MACHINE survivor"
• "Broken my heart"

Dancing Stage EuroMix 2:

• "CRASH"
• "MEMORIES"
• "VANITY ANGEL"

beatmania

beatmania 6thMIX:

• "Hysteria 2001"

beatmania 7thMIX:

• "Baby baby gimme your love 2002"

beatmania THE FINAL:

• "Birdman"
• "Calling for destiny"

beatmania IIDX

beatmaniaIIDX 6th style:

• "BALLAD FOR YOU" (vocals by Thomas Howard Lichtenstein)
• "DIVE ~Into your heart~"
• "L'amour et la liberte"

beatmaniaIIDX 8th style:

• "蒼い衝動"
• "Drivin'"
• "桜"

beatmaniaIIDX 9th style:

• "Be Rock You (1998 Burst Style)"
• "HYPER EUROBEAT (IIDX Style)"
• "MARIA (I believe...)"
• "Prelude"

beatmaniaIIDX 10th style:

• "DoLL" (with Jun as TERRA)
• "一途な恋 (HYPER J-EURO MIX)"

beatmaniaIIDX 11th style:

• "太陽～T・A・I・Y・O～"
• "KI・SE・KI (IIDX RED EDIT)"
• "Ultimate" (with Jun as TERRA)

Dance Maniax

Dance Maniax (1stMIX):

• "Afronova Primevil"
• "Broken my heart"
• "Gorgeous 2012"
• "Put your faith in me (Saturday Night Mix)"
• "Keep on movin' (DMX Mix)"
• "Dynamite rave (B4 ZA BEAT Mix)"

Dance Maniax 2ndMIX:

• "KISS KISS KISS"
• "Kiss me all night long"
• "ENTER THE DRAGON (G'z Island Mix)"
• "Matsuri Japan (J-SUMMER MIX)"

GuitarFreaks & DrumMania

GUITARFREAKS 2ndMIX & drummania (1stMIX):

• "HYPNOTICA"

GUITARFREAKS 6thMIX & drummania 5thMIX:

• "Hypnotheque"

GUITARFREAKS 9thMIX & drummania 8thMIX:

• "チカラ" (With BeForU)

GUITARFREAKS 11thMIX & drummania 10thMIX:

• "WE ARE"
• "Termination"

(Both are with Jun as TERRA)

• Shining (with BeForU)

GUITARFREAKS V & drummania V:

• "Escape to the Sky" (with Jun as TERRA)
• "Scenario (With BeForU)

pop'n music

pop'n music 8:

• "Stars☆☆☆"

pop'n music 9:

• "North Wind"

pop'n music ee'mall:

• "1/6 billionth"

pop'n music 10:

• "Arrabiata"
• "DDR MEGAMIX"

pop'n music ee'mall 2nd Avenue:

• "Brave!"

ParaParaParadise

ParaParaParadise (1stMIX):

• "CAN'T STOP FALLIN' IN LOVE -super euro version-"
• "DYNAMITE RAVE -super euro version-"
• "Kiss Kiss Kiss ~super euro version~"
• "Love Again Tonight -high speed mix-"

ParaParaParadise 2ndMIX:

• "Broken My Heart -Super Euro Version-"

See also

Games he worked on:

• Beatmania and Beatmania IIDX series
• Dance Dance Revolution series
• GuitarFreaks and DrumMania series
• Pop'n Music series
• Salamander series
• Twinbeees:Naoki_Maeda