Founder, CTO, Music Producer
Current City: Los Angeles, CA.
Current Job and Entrepreneurial Focus: Chief Technical Officer, EDGE Sound Research. When I'm not creating next-generation audio devices that blur the lines of reality, I'm still finishing up my doctorate in digital composition at UC Riverside!
Notable Prior Jobs: Co-Founder of Acoustic Haven: Helping new artists create an ultra-high quality live showcase of their skills and talents. We leveraged cutting edge technologies including machine learning and artificial intelligence to make it seem like the live performance was an album recording instead of inside a very echo-laden warehouse ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ Vice President at EDGE Original Inc.: I started as a hometown DJ, drummer, music producer and audio engineer, eventually traveling all over the world for unique performances and opportunities. Most notable was right here in LA - being the hub where tons of songwriters and producers would gather to make hit after hit for Warner Music and Kobalt Publishing. Founder of EARS Student Group: Allowing students of all disciplines and origin to access and behold the Experimental Acoustic Research Studio (EARS) at UC Riverside. During the pandemic, our legendary Transnational Virtual Songwriting camps were heralded as being a place to create amazingly refined works of music in under 48 hours. Also: Vice President of Riverside Philharmonic Associate Instructor at UC Riverside Studio Technician at INTERESC within Kremen School of Education at Fresno State A bunch of cool nerdy audiovisual stuff!
When I Started Performing: It was a cloudy afternoon in 1993 when I flipped for the first time in my mothers womb... Just kidding, I started performing against my will when I was a wee lad, must have been 3 years old.
Performing Arts Background: Music - Performing, Producing, Engineering, Composing. Film - cinematography, editing. Dance - competitive ballroom (don't ask 👊).
How did your performing arts background supercharge your entrepreneurship? Nothing prepares you for the unknowns of life like dropping dubstep in a concert hall. Improvisation, nuance, willpower, and vulnerability - these are the key elements from the arts that have been part of the secret to my success. When the demo crashes and burns, your colleague passes out, and the deal's on the line, the only way out is to embrace the fire and figure out how to salvage a burning ship while trying to disembark. Whether your cast mate forgot their lines, or your team forgets to inform you of the new feature they added - the show must go on! You can't be prepared for every outcome, which is where the power of thinking on your feet, and redirecting attention comes in handy! Life must go one, time waits for no one-both adages that speak to being present in the now, and making the best of a situation. Performing gives someone a global awareness of nuance in a multiplexed situation, either on a concert hall stage, or in a conference room experiencing the subtle gasp when you've gone just a little bit too far. After the audience lauds your performance, and eventually leaves, the venue is still a venue, and all the cords need to be wrapped for the next city to experience the spectacle.The customers go home and you're left to prepare for the next milestone. Even though you might be surrounded by a crew, it doesn't take much to realize it's 2am and they haven't seen their families in weeks or months. You *know* that it's worth it. You *know* that the smile on their face for 1 minute is worth a decade of preparation and development. So we keep trucking on, even after the fans have left, and you're the furthest thing from their mind. Finally, as I continue into my professional career, I find myself pretending to be someone else less, and performing myself more--the vulnerability shining through the remnants of insecurity long burnt away from years of baptism by fire.
Favorite Performer: Steve Jobs (fight me 👊).
Follow Ethan Castro:
Twitter - @ecastro_music
Instagram - @ethancastromusic
Facebook - ethan.castro
LinkedIn - /in/ethancastro
