When composer Antonio Sánchez first broke through with his visceral, all-percussion score for “Birdman,” it marked a defining moment for both his career and modern film scoring. The jazz drummer turned composer brought a kinetic, improvisational energy to Alejandro G. Iñárritu’s 2014 film, earning a Grammy Award and international acclaim.
But in the years since, Sánchez has made it a personal mission to expand beyond that defining project. “People think I’m the drum guy,” he tells Awards Focus. His recent work on Apple TV+’s “The Studio” makes it clear he’s far more than that label. Drawing from his classical training, orchestral background, and deep understanding of rhythm and restraint, Sánchez delivers a score that is as layered as the characters and chaos it accompanies.
Created by Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg, “The Studio” explores the inner workings of a flailing Hollywood production company. Rogen plays Matt Remick, a newly minted executive caught between idealism and commercial compromise. The series blends eras and aesthetics, drawing from old Hollywood while never losing its modern satirical bite.
The cast includes Catherine O’Hara (Patty Leigh), Ike Barinholtz (Sal Saperstein), Kathryn Hahn (Maya Mason), and Chase Sui Wonders (Quinn Hackett), with each character contributing to a world that is both wildly exaggerated and uncomfortably familiar. For Sánchez, the challenge wasn’t just to match that energy. It was to shape it, guiding the show’s tonal shifts without overwhelming them.
That instinct—to know when not to play—has become one of Sánchez’s most refined tools. Years of performing “Birdman” live alongside the film gave him an intimate sense of how music can interact with silence, rhythm, and comedic timing. “Sometimes, when they’re about to say something funny or important, I leave space,” he says.
Sánchez spoke with Awards Focus about how his work on “Birdman” informed his approach to “The Studio,” how he built a new sonic identity for the series, and why the most important notes are sometimes the ones he doesn’t play.
Awards Focus: We’re all big fans of “The Studio.” Given your iconic work on “Birdman,” this feels like a fascinating full-circle moment. It’s a bit of a chicken-and-egg question, but how did you first come on board the series? Was there already a musical direction in place, or were you brought in to define that from the start?
Antonio Sánchez: Yeah, the chicken-and-the-egg is a very good analogy and way to put it, I guess. My agent, Alexander Vangelis, wrote to me and said it looked like Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg had been using the “Birdman” soundtrack to temp the new series they were working on — which at that point was called “Funk City.” I was like, “Oh wow, that’s interesting — that’s cool.” So I was hoping at some point they would decide to, instead of using my soundtrack, just call me and have me do it directly with them. We arranged for a meeting over Zoom — I was on tour somewhere in the States. The first thing they told me — it was just Evan and Seth — was, “We just want to tell you, ‘Birdman’ is one of our favorite films.” And they went on and on about it. So obviously, they really dug the film and the soundtrack. They explained what they were doing and asked, “Do you think you’re up to this? Obviously, we don’t want exactly the same thing as ‘Birdman.’ Can we make it different?”
AF: Did they have any hesitation about working with someone so strongly associated with a very specific sound?
Sánchez: One of the things they wanted to know was if I could do more than just drums. People think, “Well, I’m the drum guy,” so if you want drums, I’m your guy — but if you want something else, can I do that? Over the last ten years since “Birdman,” I’ve done a lot of different projects to show my range. I studied classical piano at the conservatory in Mexico, I studied orchestral music, and I do my own records where I write all the music. So yeah, I can do pretty much anything you want — that’s what I told them. After five or ten minutes, Seth just said, “Well, I’m sold. Let’s do this.” Then they sent me the first episode. I saw what they had been doing with my music already — temping the episode. There were things that, to me, sounded a little out of place because they were using maybe ten or twelve tracks across the board. But I immediately thought I could improve on the sound, the vibe, the intention. Drums and comedy go great together, but you really have to do it well. It’s all about timing. That’s why Iñárritu wanted drums for “Birdman.” The first thing he told me was, “Comedy and rhythm are everything.”
AF: When you came on board, did you have access to all the episodes to see the full arc, or were you scoring one at a time?
Sánchez: No, it was usually episode by episode. At most, I’d get two episodes — so I really didn’t know the full arc. I was just trying to figure it out as I went along.
AF: You touched earlier on the risk of being typecast after “Birdman,” especially given how iconic that score became. But in “The Studio,” your work feels highly reactive — shifting moment to moment, episode to episode. What would you want listeners to understand about how your scoring approach has evolved over the last decade?
Sánchez: Well, I guess this is maybe my fourth TV series and my third movie. So yeah — I’ve gained a lot more experience since “Birdman.” That score was more like a blanket — there’s a lot of dialogue, but you just hear the drums carrying it through. The main difference now is that it’s much more interactive with the image — with what the actors are doing and saying. Sometimes I even try to mimic their physical movements. If someone says something and moves their hands rhythmically, I’ll play something that follows that gesture. Just little details that make the music feel like its own character.
AF: So you’re actively syncing the score to physical beats on screen — almost like choreography?
Sánchez: Exactly. And I also wanted a very different approach in terms of sound. With “Birdman,” Iñárritu told me, “Can you make your drums sound like they’ve been in storage for 50 years?” Because the film takes place in an old Broadway theater. So I detuned the drums, made them sound a little strange — and that gave me a lot of experience. Now I can customize my drum sound way more. Back then, we recorded “Birdman” in two separate studios. Today, I have my own studio at home. I know my gear, I engineer everything myself, I record it all. It’s a very artisanal process, and I love it because I can take as long as I want. I’m not in a studio with an engineer saying, “Okay, you’ve got two hours.” If I want to spend all day on a single scene, I can. Back on “Birdman,” I would just react — look at a scene and play. Now, I study the scene. I mark important cues. I’ll do a few passes. When I land on one that feels right, I start editing it. Then I layer more passes on top — different sounds, different textures. Maybe the first is with drumsticks, the next with brushes, then mallets, then hands, then little hand percussion. It’s all about making it really specific — and really thick. “Birdman” was usually just one drum set. Here, I might have five different full kits layered to make it sound full and powerful.
AF: The show moves at a relentless pace, with a visual palette that slides between eras — from mid-century Hollywood to ’80s nostalgia to modern LA. Did that stylistic blend shape your approach to the music?
Sánchez: That actually came up pretty early. At first, the show was called “Funk City,” which naturally led me to imagine a ’70s and ’80s funk sound. I scored a few scenes that way, but then they told me, “That’s not the direction we want.” I said, “Well, the show is called Funk City,” and they replied, “Yeah, it’s not going to be called that anymore.” So we had a deeper conversation about what they wanted the music to evoke. A lot of it ended up drawing from cool jazz — swing-driven, old-school textures. Even the way I tuned the drums reflected that. But I also brought in more contemporary sounds for other moments, because the show is set in the present day. It became about striking a balance — grounding it in vintage tones while keeping it fresh.
AF: Am I right in hearing that you performed everything we hear in the score?
Sánchez: So far, I’ve done everything myself — every single project I’ve worked on. And in that sense, the hardest episodes were definitely Episode Four — the film noir one — and the final episode, because they wanted something very different for both of them. The hardest part of scoring a series is establishing the sound. Once that’s set and you have the themes, it’s just about keeping things interesting. But with those two, nothing had been established yet. We had to invent it from scratch. I loved that challenge, though. It gave me a chance to show my range — woodwinds, brass, strings, extra percussion — and find a sound that matched the storytelling in those episodes.
AF: Episode 4 – “The Missing Reel” was one of my personal favorites. Were there any outside inspirations you drew from for that one?
Sánchez: Yeah — I’ve always loved Miles Davis’s muted trumpet sound. That was one of the inspirations I pulled in. Funny thing is, I had already recorded all the drums before we landed on the final direction. Originally, they only wanted that noir instrumentation in the second half of the episode. The first half was supposed to stick with the usual approach — mostly drums. But after they heard the second half, they asked me to do the whole episode in that style. So the drums were already there, and I treated them as the blueprint — then layered all the new instrumentation on top. I kind of set the path for myself without even realizing it.
AF: I noticed in the official soundtrack that only one character has a track named after them — Steve Buscemi. Why does he get his own theme?
Sánchez: There was just so much dread surrounding him from the beginning — it felt like it needed its own sound. Every time they mentioned his name — or especially that whole sequence with Scorsese — it felt like it needed its own identity. Just like the jazz waltz worked well for subtle tension, I discovered that deep drums and mallets — almost like war drums with heavy reverb — were great for dread. When Bryan Cranston [Griffin Mill] is giving Matt a hard time, I use those drums too. For me, they came to signify stress and looming chaos.
AF: It’s such a sharply funny show. Where does this rank in terms of how much fun you had — and how much it let you stretch artistically?
Sánchez: I’ve been lucky to score some funny shows — I did “Get Shorty” a few years ago, and that was really funny. I did another show last year called “Stacks,” which is a British series — but it had very British humor. Completely different. But with this one, I was laughing out loud while I was scoring it. What really surprised me was the pace. I was working scene by scene, so I never saw it all together until it aired. But when I finally watched it — the dialogue, the camera movement, the amount of music — it really caught me off guard. This definitely ranks up there in that funny, cringey territory. It’s been one of the most creatively satisfying projects I’ve done.
AF: Alright, one last fun one — if you were asked to score “The Kool-Aid Movie,” what would it need to sound like to land an Oscar nomination?
Sánchez: I think it would need a lot of analog, funny kind of ’70s and ’80s synthesizer sounds.
AF: Antonio, it was a real pleasure talking to you. It’s a fantastic show and a fantastic score. I really appreciate your work, and good luck with the rest of the season.
Sánchez: Appreciate it Ben. A pleasure.