Eric Calderone

Background and career

Calderone began playing guitar in 2001, at the age of sixteen. He learned about musical orchestration as a student at Berklee College of Music in Boston, Massachusetts. After learning to play the instrument, a skill which began with Calderone learning the song "Enter Sandman" by the metal group Metallica, he taught guitar lessons, both privately and as a part-time college instructor. His first YouTube upload, from November 5, 2009, features a metal remix of the track "He's a Pirate" by Hans Zimmer and Klaus Badelt, from the 2003 film Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl.

Calderone learned to create his renditions by first transcribing a rough MIDI version of the melody and tempo of the song he wishes to cover in a digital audio workstation. He then digitally adds drum sections into the file, along with multiple layered recordings of his guitar instrumentation. After adding an element of bass, and sometimes including other optional instruments, such as synthesizers, he records himself playing a real-time version of his cover; this is followed by an audio mastering phase.

A surge in Calderone's popularity on YouTube began when he uploaded a metal cover of the Lady Gaga song "Bad Romance" on October 21, 2010. In December 2015, Calderone graduated from the University of Tampa with a bachelor's degree in music. Since then, he has uploaded videos of himself performing numerous remixes of songs and soundtracks, including the Gotye song "Somebody That I Used to Know", the Carly Rae Jepsen song "Call Me Maybe", and the PSY song "Gangnam Style"; film and television themes originating from series such as Attack on Titan, The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, Pokémon, Game of Thrones, Star Wars, and The Lord of the Rings; and music from video games such as Super Mario Bros. and The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim.

His most viewed video is of his metal rendition of the Disney song "Let It Go", from Disney's 2013 film Frozen.

Awards

In 2013, Calderone received the "‘Dimebag Darrell Shredder’ Award" at the Metal Hammer Golden Gods Awards.