We recently connected with Daniel Nieberg and have shared our conversation below.
Daniel, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. We’d love to hear about when you first realized that you wanted to pursue a creative path professionally.
It was something I kind of instinctively knew from a very young age. I think at around the age of 10, before having ever composed a thing in my life, I decided I wanted to be a composer professionally. It wasn’t until a few years later, at the age of 13 or 14 that I actually started sitting down and writing music. As a kid, I was always connected with music, especially classical music. I remember in kindergarten, I would stay inside some days during recess so that my teacher could play opera music for me. The pivotal moment for me was watching Star Wars as a 10 year old and being absolutely moved by John Williams’ music. Ever since that moment, I’ve been trying to chase that feeling of awe and emotional depth by recreating it within my own music.
Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers.
My name is Daniel, and I make music. I’m based in Southern California, where I was born and raised. I went to college at Indiana University Jacobs School of Music, where I studied music composition and French. I think I’m more of an introvert than an extrovert and I watch a lot of movies.
When I describe what I do to people, the first word that I use before anything else is “composer.” Yes, I produce music, yes, I write songs, and yes, I orchestrate and arrange, but at my core, I compose music. That’s just how I’ve always viewed myself. It has to do with a specific process of musical creation, where I take ideas, meditate on them, and realize them into existence as accurately as I can. That’s the process that I love, since each new thing I make is its own universe, another puzzle that needs to be solved.
Professionally, I am a composer for media. That can be anything from movies, television, and video games, to even web comics, podcasts, and commercials. I also produce and arrange, working with other musical artists to create tracks and fleshing them out with strings and orchestras. What I love most about working in this field is its collaborative nature. I feel most creatively fulfilled working with others, and I find it beautiful being able to connect with others and creating something that is bigger than the sum of its parts. My main objective with my collaborators is to make sure that my work not just complements their creative vision, but transforms it into something more powerful, more enriched.
The project I’m most proud of at this point is my work on the short film OMOLARA, directed by Andrew Vasquez. The process was really fulfilling for me, being able to discuss in depth with Andrew the themes of the film and our perspectives on them. He was very clear with his vision, sharing with me music that inspired him and which laid the foundation for the music that I would eventually write for the film. Naturally, it was a process of trial and error, and I had to rework tracks countless times in order to hone in closer to the core vision of the project. This all allowed me to grow as an artist and learn what it takes to be a good collaborator. We had some great conversations and I truly felt that the end product was a result of a myriad of perspectives engaging with one another to create something beautiful and compelling.
I mentioned earlier that as a young kid, I was impressed by John Williams and his ability to convey such emotional depth and move me to such an extent with his music. It was from this moment that I learned about the power of catharsis, and how music allows me to access deep and untapped parts of myself that can’t be expressed or felt otherwise. It is this concept of catharsis that keeps me going with my music, since it provides me an avenue to escape and emotionally heal. My overall goal is to extend this to others, and provide them the space they need to heal as much as I needed it.
Let’s talk about resilience next – do you have a story you can share with us?
The biggest challenge I’ve had to face so far as an artist has been the crisis I had during college. In college, I had developed a lot of complexes surrounding not being good enough and also just not being capable of consistency. Due to a bunch of factors, like the Covid lockdown, lack of creative support from the composition department, and writer’s block due to exhaustion from miscellaneous course work, I had a bit of a meltdown and considered even dropping out of school. For months on end, I didn’t write a single thing, I couldn’t listen to any music, and I barely applied myself to the school work that I was supposed to be doing. I was even looking for other career options since I had convinced myself that music wasn’t for me anymore.
It took multiple years of internal work to climb myself out of that hole. It had shaken my entire system. I had thankfully made it through college without dropping out, and I managed to pull myself together to write one last piece of music, entitled POEMS, that was featured on my senior recital. It took the following year after college to gradually reset and re-engage with music. Slowly but surely, I was able to rekindle my initial passion for music by being kind to myself and providing myself the emotional support that I needed in college. Now, I’m more passionate than ever, spending most of my free time either practicing, writing, or listening to music. I can’t imagine a life without it.
In retrospect, a crisis like this was bound to happen eventually. I’m just glad I was able to recover. I still deal with the same insecurities as before but I have a much better tool kit to keep them in check now. A big lesson I learned from all of this is that these types of crises are inevitable and come in waves, and all professionals deal with them at some point. The trick is to develop a system of support that works for you to pass through them with as much grace as possible.
Are there any books, videos, essays or other resources that have significantly impacted your management and entrepreneurial thinking and philosophy?
This has probably been recommended a million and a half times before, but I can’t recommend enough ATOMIC HABITS by James Clear. This book was integral to me having a grasp on consistency within my own life and forming important habits that lead to actual progress. The ideas in it are simple yet profound, and he lays a clear framework that is actually effective when put into practice. It has helped me develop a daily routine that actually affirms the life I want to be living, shaping me everyday into the person I want to become. More importantly, it has provided me peace and comfort in times when I feel I’m getting nowhere, since I understand now that progress can never be instant. As long as I show up, even just for a little bit, I’m going in the right direction.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.danielniebergmusic.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/danielniebergmusic/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/DanielNiebergMusic
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/daniel-nieberg/
- Youtube: https://youtube.com/@DanielNiebergMusic
- Other: Tik Tok: https://www.tiktok.com/@naniel.mp3
Image Credits
All photos taken by Aurora Love