[1] His work incorporates elements of classical, jazz, electronic and world music, and has been extensively utilized for film, television, theatre, dance and the concert stage.

As a Composition Fellow at the Tanglewood Music Center in 1980, he studied with George Perle, and attended his first film scoring seminar, led by John Williams.

[5] Baitz's early work as a composer focused on electro-acoustic pieces for varied instrumentations, including African Dreams (1977) for electronic tape, Triophany (1977) for alto saxophone, piano and double bass, and Seven Haiku by Basho (1978) for soprano and mixed ensemble.

[9] Baitz's concert work in the 1980s and ‘90s included Into Light for clarinet, viola and piano; The Riverfisher for chamber orchestra, voices and electronics, with text by poet Tory Dent; and his Juilliard-commissioned electro-acoustic quintet River of January, which won first prize in the Delius Composition Contest.

From 1992 through 1998, he shared a music production studio in midtown Manhattan with mentor and employer Buryl Red, where he scored multiple National Geographic documentaries, including The New Chimpanzees, Stolen Treasures, and the mini-series Heart of Africa.

In 1998, he built his own studio, Rick Baitz Music, where he composed many soundtracks for PBS and HBO, including Life Afterlife, Body & Soul: Diana & Kathy, The Education of Shelby Knox, and The Vagina Monologues.

In 2016, Baitz scored the short film Remembering Pearl Harbor, a permanent installation at the Franklin D. Roosevelt Presidential Library and Museum in Hyde Park, NY.

[3][7][22] Other honors include: Grammy Nomination as an arranger for Wondrous Love – Feel The Spirit (Resimiranda Records, 2000); the Grand Prize and Chamber Music Award, 1993 Delius Composition Contest (for River of January); multiple awards from Meet the Composer and the American Music Center; and fellowships to The MacDowell Colony, Yaddo, The Edward Albee Foundation, The Millay Colony, and The Virginia Center for the Creative Arts.