Polyphonic Score Reconstruction & Python Specialist
Job Description
Your work at IXO
Reconstruct musical scores from recordings containing several simultaneous parts. A typical assignment may present a mono mix of soprano, alto, tenor and bass and require an accurate score for the entire performance. This is specialist polyphonic transcription, combining musical judgment with technical inspection of the audio.
Responsibilities
• Distinguish individual vocal lines and follow them through overlaps and changes in texture.
• Identify pitches, note attacks, durations, rests and repeated articulations.
• Place events on the correct rhythmic grid and apply appropriate key signatures, accidentals and enharmonic spelling.
• Create or manipulate MusicXML so the notation remains structurally usable.
• Use Python to inspect recordings, examine spectral evidence and automate suitable parts of the workflow.
• Verify the result through score review, structured checks or resynthesis, and correct discrepancies before submission.
Required skills
Strong Python programming, advanced ear training and polyphonic transcription ability are required. You need a sound grasp of harmony, rhythm, voice leading and conventional notation, plus relevant experience with SATB material, choral arranging, score preparation or comparable multi-part transcription.
Suitable tools may include librosa, NumPy, SciPy, music21, Essentia, pretty_midi, MuseScore or alternatives. No named library is compulsory when your skills transfer to the work. A particular degree or number of professional years is not required. Performers, arrangers, composers, choir musicians, researchers and independent specialists may demonstrate the necessary ability.
Deliverables and compensation
Deliverables are precise MusicXML scores and the verification work needed to support them. The engagement is remote worldwide, with approximately 15 hours per week as a planning guide and flexibility over working days. IXO will confirm workload and any minimum submission expectations before work starts.
Pay: Per completed task; fee agreed before work. The fee and completion specifications will be agreed in USD before you begin; no hourly equivalent is advertised.