Early works As a teenager, Hirota's older brother would play covers of
The Beatles and
The Carpenters. Hirota composed his first song at the age of ten. At the age of 20, unsure of his career path, Hirota was invited by composer
Yasunori Mitsuda to work at
Square, and was hired as a sound designer.
Square Hirota has a friendship from childhood with fellow composer
Yasunori Mitsuda who he has worked with on
Bomberman 64: The Second Attack,
Biohazard 2 Drama Albums,
Shadow Hearts and
Shadow Hearts II. Under the direction of Mitsuda,
Street Fighter Alpha 3 was to have a "hard" sound, and
Biohazard 2 was to have an "ominous sound".
Shadow Hearts Kyoko Kishikawa has worked with Hirota on
Shadow Hearts,
Shadow Hearts II (although not
Shadow Hearts: From the New World) and
Rogue Galaxy Premium Arrange, providing eerie female
scat vocals for a number of his tracks. Ryo Fukuda has been the sound manipulator for Hirota on the
Shadow Hearts games as well as composing and arranging a few tracks for all three games. He also co-composed with Hirota on
Sonic Shuffle.
Kenji Ito worked with Hirota on the soundtrack of
Shadow Hearts II.
Live performance Hirota has performed bass guitar for Ito's live performance of
Culdcept music during the Extra Live Concert. and for Ito's vocal song for
Lux-Pain, Hirota frequently performs bass guitar with Kishikawa's band. He is currently a member of
Nobuo Uematsu's band, the
Earthbound Papas.
Musical style and influences Hirota's
Shadow Hearts music is notable for its fusion of cultural music with Hirota's personal
Industrial style. Although Hirota is primarily a bass guitarist, he is capable of playing a variety of other instruments: the
Biwa, the Syami, the Alter Ego Figaro, the Saw Wo, the Son, the
Khene, the Old Drum, the Madaru, the
Gong, the
Suzu, and the
Kalimba. ==Works==