Daily Inspiration: Meet Gavin McCormack

Today we’d like to introduce you to Gavin McCormack.

Hi Gavin, thanks for sharing your story with us. To start, maybe you can tell our readers some of your backstories.
I studied music from the age of 6. I got my first acoustic guitar from Santa and it all started from there. My father was a musician too, playing trumpet with some of the biggest Irish Showbands and touring Ireland, Europe & America throughout the ’60s & 70s. I started learning classical guitar & piano working my way up through the grades at The College of Music in Dublin. By 16 I was gigging professionally, playing with various bands, and touring around Ireland. From there I began writing my own material and released my first EP. Far away so close, when I was 19. It was well received at the time and even got great a review in Billboard magazine. I started collaborating with Barry Grace and Paul Murphy at their studio, Ear2ear, and this is where my recording journey started, learning my way around Protools and recording techniques from Paul and studio engineer, Mark Fitzpatrick.

As a touring and studio session guitarist/singer I have worked with some of the music industry’s finest, including Academy Award-winning composer Ennio Morricone, Paulo Nutini, Brian Kennedy, Dublin Gospel Choir, Andrea Morricone, Daniel O’ Donnell, Micheal English, Michael Ball, RuthAnne, and I’ve even taken on the role of “Bjorn” with Abba Orchestral! I eventually opened my own studio, Studio Seven, in 2018. I regularly collaborate with the most in-demand studio musicians and songwriters across the globe. I have produced multiple number-1 singles and worked on various chart-topping albums.

It was through some of these collaborations that led to work with an American Country Music publishing company. I have been an in-house producer with Heiden Music for the last two years, creating modern country hits and working with some of Nashville’s top talent.

Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way? Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
It’s been a bit of a rollercoaster, to be honest. Thankfully, it’s been a smooth road… Most of the way. The biggest challenge over the last few years has been the Covid Pandemic and how it affected the entertainment industry. We had very strict restrictions in Ireland, which meant that all live music and entertainment was banned, excuse the pun, for two years! Thankfully, I had the studio to keep things going.

The decimation of live entertainment turned out to be the catalyst for me to change my path and concentrate more on the studio and production side of music. My wife, Lisa, is also in the entertainment business running her own Circus. She comes from the Duffy family, which is Ireland’s oldest Circus family. So we were hit on the double, with both of us being put off the road overnight.

Appreciate you sharing that. What else should we know about what you do?
At Studio Seven, I’m kind of a one-stop shop for singers/songwriters. Usually, the way I’d work is, an artist will send me a writer’s rough, acoustic guitar/piano, and vocal recording, they’ll give me a brief of what they want the song to sound like, then I’ll go, and create that for them. Being a multi-instrumentalist and recording engineer/producer means I can record and play all the instruments myself. I then send the track to the artist ready for vocals. Then I’ll do the final mix. The track will then go to Grammy Nominated mastering engineer, Billy Farrell, who I’ve worked with for years. He’s the best!

My proudest musical moment, and one that will always stay with me, would be getting to perform with Ennio Morricone when he played in Dublin in 2019. It was his final concert outside of Italy before he sadly passed away a few months later. I was part of 100 singers in the choir who were accompanied by the Czech National Symphony Orchestra. To hear the sound of 200 people on stage performing this incredible music, under the baton of the Maestro himself is a surreal pinch-me moment that I’ll never forget. In November I was fortunate to perform at the Ennio Morricone celebration concert in Dublin’s 3Arena to an audience of almost 11,000. This show was curated by Ennio before he passed away and was conducted by his son, Andrea Morricone.

Can you tell us more about what you were like growing up?
I’ve always been a messer/joker and have a good sense of humor. I’d be known for pranking friends regularly, but it also means if something goes missing, I’ll always get the blame even if I’d nothing to do with it. My interests would be heavily music based.

From the age of 10 or so, from the time I’d get home from school until bedtime, I’d be walking around the house with a guitar around my neck. One of my few hobbies that wasn’t music related was swimming. I was the National champion on many occasions over the years. Music is a funny thing though. It’s one of the few jobs out there that are also your pastime.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.studiosevenrecording.ie
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/studiosevenrecording
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/studiosevenrecording
• SoundCloud: https://soundcloud.com/gavin-mccormack-1
• Other: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/6BhwJqrpiZxyZX0aGyy742

Image Credits
Owen Breslin Photography and Matt Kavanagh Photography