Ty Rex

Scoring Production Assistant & Coordinator

Ah2 Music & Sparks & Shadows (2012–2019)

OVERVIEW

I spent seven years working across two scoring production houses in Los Angeles: Ah2 Music (2012–2015) and Sparks & Shadows (2015–2019). I began in high school as a studio assistant and continued through college into early career, taking on progressively more technical and coordinative responsibilities. Over time, my work moved toward quality assurance, engineering support, and delivery coordination within high-volume, multi-project scoring pipelines.

Across both houses, I contributed to productions including:
Shark Tank, MasterChef, The Biggest Loser, The Apprentice, Agents of SHIELD, The Walking Dead, Outlander, Black Sails, God of War, DaVinci’s Demons, Defiance, and more, with end clients including Disney, ABC, FOX, AMC, Starz, Sony and Netflix.

ROLE & SCOPE

I worked within teams of assistants and coordinators alongside composers, orchestrators, engineers, and external contractors. Studio managers and lead composers oversaw the broader production process; I contributed as an individual within that structure.

At Ah2 Music, I handled studio inventory and cue catalogs, as well as technical assisting (stem deliveries, catalog management). At Sparks & Shadows, my role expanded from assistant-level technical support into coordination and engineering across the production pipeline.

AH2 MUSIC — 2012–2015

Ah2 Music was a production music house focused on broadcast reality television. I began with studio organization and asset management and transitioned into paid assistant work.

The catalog was extensive with thousands of cues across multiple writers, organized for both custom show delivery and a public licensing library. Credits included Shark Tank, MasterChef, The Biggest Loser, The Apprentice, and more.

Responsibilities:
- Studio inventory and digital asset management
- Stem export and delivery preparation
- Cue catalog maintenance across multiple shows and licensing tiers

SPARKS & SHADOWS — 2015–2019

Sparks & Shadows operated at the scale of major network television, feature film, and AAA games, often running multiple productions simultaneously.

My work developed in two phases:

Assistant phase (early):
- Score preparation and orchestral session prep (assembling and printing parts from orchestrators)
- Custom VST instrument design and integration into production templates
- File/server system and archival support across multiple major active projects
- Hardware studio buildouts and technical support

Coordinator / engineering phase (later):
- Editing and mixing score demos for director and showrunner review
- Quality assurance across incoming cue submissions (instrumentation accuracy, render integrity, mix balance)
- Cue-to-timecode sync/managing against locked picture across simultaneous productions and cue revisions
- Video pitch package creation and compositing for studio presentation
- Ongoing server/archival management across overlapping productions

A typical episode involved 8–20 composers submitting cues overnight to meet 8–9am deadlines. At peak volume, this resulted in 100+ cues per week moving through the pipeline, including revisions.

Within this system, I ensured each cue met delivery standards before advancing, while maintaining continuity and quality across multiple productions/clients simultaneously (I was not responsible for creative direction, composer revisions, or ownership of the overall production calendar).

Projects included Agents of SHIELD, The Walking Dead, Outlander, Black Sails, God of War, DaVinci’s Demons, Defiance and more. Clients included Disney, ABC, FOX, AMC, Starz, Sony and Netflix.

PROCESS & OPERATIONS IMPROVEMENTS

Last-minute revisions, overnight fatigue, and cascading errors under high-stakes deadlines were a recurring pattern. The system depended on compressed turnaround, and the result was often 8–10 rounds of revisions per cue before approval. The pressure in this environment was overwhelming: a high volume of cues, many contributors, and too little time. The default response had been to absorb that pressure through overnight work and repeated revision cycles.

I did not have formal authority to change scheduling, so the approach was peer-level. I identified where errors were entering the pipeline, compared patterns across projects, and had direct conversations with other team members working inside these constraints. Over time, those conversations revealed a timeline that was producing excess pressure and revisions.

Instead, I shifted focus toward the conditions upstream, helping ease the pressure on the final stages. Delivery timelines moved earlier, overnight work was reduced, and revision volume dropped typically to 2–3 rounds per cue. First-pass quality drastically improved, and the work ultimately took less time.

These changes came from identifying where pressure was concentrating in the workflow, naming it clearly, and applying steady pressure to rebalance the system over time.

REFLECTION

This work clarified the kind of influence available without formal authority. We used the tools we had – observation, direct communication, and consistency – and applied them over time to shape how the system functioned.

It also made clear that the well-being of the people doing the work is not separate from the quality of the output. When contributors have enough time and clarity to work with care and feedback, the work actually decreases while quality increases.