At the 2013 Audio Engineering Society (AES) Convention, Audio-Technica interviewed professionals in the audio industry to explain some of the finer points of the world in which our equipment operates. The “Ask Me Anything” Livestream event questions came from the audience and Twitter. In this week’s installment, we’ll cover highlights from our interview with Richie Castellano. Richie Castellano is a fifth-generation musician from Brooklyn, NY. His great-great- grandfather was a guitar player, his great-grandfather was an orchestral multi-instrumentalist, his grandfather was a jazz bassist, and his father was an R&B singer and guitar player. His family has owned a number of music stores, currently operating Castellano's House of Music on Staten Island. He had his first gig when he was five years old, in his father's band, Goon & Plenty. Richie learned to play guitar at age 11, after being inspired by The Beatles. He attended Purchase College Conservatory of Music and holds a bachelor's degree in studio production and a master's degree in studio composition. Richie is currently a New York-based singer, songwriter and producer. Richie is a current member of legendary rock band Blue Öyster Cult. He is also known for his popular YouTube videos where he recreates classic songs like "Bohemian Rhapsody" and "Golden Slumbers" in split-screen format, playing and singing all of the parts himself. A-T: How did your musical family affect your perspective on music? RC: I would say completely. My father is totally influential in everything I do. I run every single project I do by him. He's my go-to guy for everything. I also look up to my grandfather who owned a music store in Brooklyn. He was an upright bass player and he loved Django Reinhart, and he got me into all of that stuff, and that affected my guitar playing a lot. Also, my father had a lot of blues and R&B influence. Any bit of R&B I got from my father. He was a member of The Chambers Brothers. My uncle was a bass player and he came from a more English rock background, so I had a very diverse upbringing with the Jazz from my grandfather, the R&B from my dad, and the English rock from my uncle. I feel at home doing all of those genres of music. If I could do a different type of gig every day, I'd be happy. A-T: Can you talk about how you go started with Blue Öyster Cult? RC: A very close friend of mine is Steve La Cera and he is an editor of Mix Magazine. He is Blue Öyster Cult's Front of House (FOH) engineer and tour manager. The story goes that I was at Purchase College studying audio and he had to cover AES for the magazine, and he couldn't make a weekend's worth of Blue Öyster Cult dates. He called me and said "Hey what are you doing this weekend?" I told him that I had to mix a wedding on Sunday and that was about it. He said, “On Friday and Saturday I may have a gig for you.” I asked what the gig was, and he said, "Mixing front of house for Blue Öyster Cult," and I said, "I'm in." I went down and mixed BÖC cold. I had been mostly mixing weddings and this was my first big rock show. The first time I ever got on a huge Yamaha console with a big PA. I just made everything obnoxiously loud because I was getting out all of my frustrations of not being able to mix at a reasonable volume. At the end of the gig, the guys in the band came up to me and said, "We heard our mix bouncing off the building miles away, how freaking loud did you have us?" I said, "You were the loudest thing in show business." Ever since then, they kept using me as a sub. Years later, their bass player got called to join Queen, and they needed a bass player in a pinch, and they knew I played. They called me up and said, "What are you doing on Friday? Do you play bass?" Then they asked, "Do you own a bass?" I said, “Yeah.” And finally they asked "Do you rock?" to which I replied, “Yeah!” That was that. They asked me to show up at the airport on Friday. Two years later, Allen retired from touring and they moved me over to guitar and keyboards. The only reason I was considered for the bass gig is because I used to play online video games with Eric [Bloom]. Play video games. Make friends online! A-T: Do you feel that you’ve become a part of the Blue Öyster Cult mentality? RC: Oh yeah. BÖC is definitely the most family-oriented organization I've ever played with. We talk to each other like we're family. I think of Eric like my dad. Eric was one of my groomsmen. We are more like a family. We can spend so much time in captivity and not kill each other. We can still find things we like about each other and that we appreciate about each other. So I definitely feel that way, yes. A-T: How long did it take you to make the Beatles video? RC: The Beatles video took significantly longer because I had to learn how to play a few instruments. I am such a fan of YouTube because I was listening to Abbey Road and said, "Alright, there's a lot of instruments on here, but they're all playing whole notes. I can handle that. How hard can it be to play violin or play trombone?" So I went and borrowed some instruments from my musician friends and I had to go on YouTube and watch tutorials on how to use these instruments. I had to learn enough about each instrument so I could play the part. We’d like to offer a huge thanks to Richie Castellano for sitting down with us! His experiences in live music speak volumes about the way the industry works today. He made a connection with Blue Öyster Cult through online gaming and he learned new instruments from YouTube videos, so it’s safe to say that the Internet has become an invaluable aspect of the music industry. Now, better than ever before, we have the ability to expand our musical talent and consciousness on our own, in the Internet universe. Have you ever made a musical goal and followed through with it using only the Internet? Tell us about you experience in the comments section below or on Facebook and Twitter, and keep checking the blog for more updates!