Rising Stars: Meet Daniel McCurdy

Today we’d like to introduce you to Daniel McCurdy.

Hi Daniel, thanks for joining us today. We’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
My eighth-grade year was very important to my journey in music.

I realized that if you want something all you need to do is work hard for it and the rest will come together. I decided I wanted to write songs so I spent that year reading the dictionary and writing lyrics for at least two hours a day.

Soon, I realized that in order to write a real song I needed to play an instrument. That was when I found the guitar. I fell in love with the instrument and spent my freshman year of high school playing as much as I could; sometimes up to six or seven hours a day.

From there, I kept chipping away at skills that I was missing. I went and learned music theory, played live, learned to sing, learned keyboard, bass, and much more things were going very well until a little virus called Covid-19 came on the scene. Suddenly all my gigs and writing sessions were canceled and I was stuck in my house. This spurred me on to learn the most important ingredient to who I am as a musician.

I learned to produce and engineer my music. This process was by far the most challenging yet most rewarding. I fell in love with it more than anything else I’d done in the past. I practiced, learned, interned, and ate up any knowledge I could. Now it is my full-time job. I am a one-stop shop for most artists.

I write, record, engineer, produce, mix records, and work to get the music inside the artist’s head out of the speakers. I love this process so much and hope to continue with it as long as I’m alive.

Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall, and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
Everyone wrestles with self-doubt. For a while, most of the work I was doing was based on fear.

I was so scared of not sounding good enough, or not living up to my potential. This caused me to put in crazy amounts of work. I’m grateful that now I’m in a better headspace.

Those past years were exhausting but they made me have the skills and work ethic that I do now.

Alright, so let’s switch gears a bit and talk business. What should we know about your work?
I am a producer and songwriter. I take an artist’s vision and help turn it into a finished product. I am most proud of my ability to communicate and “serve the song.”

Where we are in life is often partly because of others. Who/what else deserves credit for how your story turned out?
So many people have helped me along the way.

My parents were always supportive and encouraging. Bob Lawson gave me my first guitar. Hart Wells was the best guitar teacher I could ask for.

Everyone at Christian Fellowship church in Ashburn VA played a massive role in making me who I am.

Pricing:

• $500 for full production and final mix.
• $60 for an hour of guitar lesson.
• $150 – 200 for a mix.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.danielmccurdymusic.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/danielmccurdymusic/

Image Credits
Rachel Yearick