Symphony Forge Studios was developed in 2024 by Shad Manning, a multi-instrumentalist, composer, and orchestrator. Shad has previously worked on video game projects such as Spirits of Summerland, produced by Summerlander Games, as well as short videos such as Dinner Fight, produced by DCSager Productions. Shad began writing music in 2008, where he first began writing solo and chamber music for himself and fellow students. Shad went on to study music theory and orchestration, and has released five studio albums before founding Symphony Forge Studios.

Shad's compositional palette includes traditional orchestral styles ranging from Baroque/Renaissance to Post-Romantic and 2oth Century tonality. Shad is also a student of ethnomusicology, having an extensive interest in traditional world-music characteristics where he applies instrumentations and tonal elements into his orchestrations.
Shad has a Bachelor of Arts in Music from Iowa Wesleyan University (2014) and a Bachelor of Science in Audio Production from Full Sail University. Shad creates music similar to that of composers of film and game, such as Joe Hisaishi, John Powell, Borislav Slavov, Michael Hoenig, and Jeremy Soule, as well as traditional music from around the world.