A tour through the Death By Audio factory
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- Опубликовано: 13 фев 2023
- Take a romantic stroll with our crushes at Death By Audio for this special Valentine’s Day episode of Show Us Your Junk.
DBA founder and A Place to Bury Strangers frontman Oliver Ackermann, and his partner, Heather Bickford, DBA's Managing + Operations Director, walk us through their shop and tell the story of how they met and expanded their company into what it is today. Oliver shows us his collection of Fender Jaguars, most of which are broken or sawed in half, but somehow still functioning, and tests out some early DBA prototypes.
Oliver has many creative outlets and sonic endeavors. Initially, he started tinkering with building his own effects to craft unique sounds in his band. He then started making and selling flagship pedals like the Total Sonic Annihilation to save for a backpacking trip to Europe, and eventually relocated to New York from Virginia where he found a warehouse space and started throwing shows where legendary bands like Deerhoof, Japanther, Thee Oh Sees and Metz performed. This was the start of Death By Audio. In the early 2000s, the DBA space operated as a performance venue, pedal factory, recording studio and living space all in one. Though the venue closed in 2014, the scene's undeniable influence lives on.
Oliver and Heather found a new building in Queens in 2017 and renovated it on their own, where they currently operate and continue to churn out pedals by hand.
Shot by Chris Tran, Jeff France, David Whited, Dannesh Moosa
Audio Recording Dannesh Moosa and Jeff France
Edited by Chris Tran
Thumbnail Image by Ebru Yildiz
Check out Ebru Yildiz photobook "We've come so far: The Final Days of Death By Audio"
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The dude with the chainsaw is the most important member of any good pedal building company.
Happy to be appreciated 😉
I like how it wasn’t mentioned, just casually back there.
@@michaelyahner6695 dude talked about the newspapers on the floor but didn't mention chainsaw charles over there
@@SeanPorio Could you guys please make a Chainsaw pedal?? That would be life-affirming for me. :)
As soon as I saw chainsaw guy I ran to these comments.
That double-amplified spring reverb pedal sounds utterly incredible holy fuck
Everyone needs a Heather in their life.
Heather’s the real MVP 🤘
I was thinking the same thing. Without her he would be so lost in chaos. It’s pretty cool to see a dude like him be successful because us musicians know many guys like this who go nowhere because they forget to pay their electric bill or don’t realize there is such a thing. Obviously, Heather handles all of that so he can go off and create.
I have one ❤️ Her name is Flora ❤️
You guys really got Oliver to finally explain the guitars and amps, yet another EarthQuaker win
🏆
The guitars going into the bag had me cracking up.
3 guitars in a bag!
Done that when moving houses with an acoustic guitar bag. Much roomier, but I couldn't just stack them against each other, had to protect them with a layer of bath towels at least. The way he just chucks them in there was nails to a blackboard for me !
So economical
@@mescaliiiiine He smashes guitars, glues them back together and still uses them. The last thing he is worried about is some scratches.
The flightcase serving a purpose as a synth is so genius!
💡
I’d love to have seen the airport baggage check guys face when he saw that.
It was hard to watch him stuff 3 jaguars into that gig bag, but if he's smashing and cutting them with a circular saw anyways, damage from checking that bag probably doesn't matter lol
We need to start a petition to get DBA to release that spring reverb.
I think the comments alone are attesting to this lol
I agree!
Yes! Yes we must! Let us worry about the feedback. Or not. Only the sound guy side of me worries about feedback, the musician side treasures it. What a great sounding pedal it is!
I second this
Time stamp for spring reverb please 🙏
Oliver is seriously the mad scientist of the pedal business! Loved this video!
Right! Thanks for checking it out!
Also David Rainger
I wonder how many times he’s electrocuted himself. Man he’s cool though.
Oliver is like the opposite of an orderly person. Everything has to be messed up or challenged or explored. It is so fun to watch.
Yes, us DBA fans want "beyond usability"
I had heard of Death By Audio and perhaps thought the peeps behind the company had a few trim pots loose but was not expecting to this degree. And I mean that in the best possible way. The Franken-guitar/circular saw philosophy alone is about the most rock n roll thing I’d ever heard of before. Fucking awesome
I could've watched 2 hours of Oliver talking about pedals, music, and anything else. He's so stoked and passionate about what he does. What a rad human being.
Super rad🤙
Found him to be totally boring.
@@503punxoioioi9 thanks for sharing. Have you figured out the upload image button?
Don’t forget to send us your videos of half guitars, split input guitars and flight case synths
I literally live down the block from these guys and I pass their shop every day. I always wanted to go in there! This video is perfect! thank you!!!!!!!
bring them flowers. marigolds.
@@R1GAMBLER I don’t know, they might be more receptive to a box with human feces.
Perfect reply!👍🎶😁
Imagine lending this guy a guitar
You can feel his passion for sound. I can see why he and Jamie get along. Superb video. Soundscapes. Dreamscapes. Brick walls. Freight trains. Smashed guitars and focused repairs. Entropy. DEATH BY AUDIO.
Seeing A Place to Bury Strangers for the first time in France has been one of my favourite concert experiences. The overwhelming sound in the dark room.. seemed like the whole crowd lost it when they played Now It's Over on the little portable rig with the starburst light going. They know how to make a show!
FUN FACT: Chainsaw guy at 8:08 is the actual A Place to Bury Strangers musician and the band pantomimes to a tape of his performances.
Another FUN FACT: That man is, technically, the buried stranger
(these are not facts)
THIS GUY IS ONE OF THE REASON WE STARTED OUR BAND
🔥🔥🔥🔥
Been following Oliver and his band on and off since about 2012. He's the realest and he hasn't changed one bit! Brings me great joy to see him still doing this stuff.
Super awesome dude!
Fuzz war is by far best bass fuzz pedal I've ever played. Thank you DBA!
I gotta check that out.
I like how Oliver treats his guitars, amps and pedals as what they are; tools. He's not precious about them and definitely 'relics' everything himself.
That said, I would never loan him any of my guitars!
Damn, that double-amplified spring reverb sounds just like the end of the world in a box AND IM HERE FOR IT
The guy is literally the opposite of Paul Reed Smith, which is neither good nor bad, but I like the fact that it's a different philosophy.
This made me entire week. Seeing my two favorite pedal companies work together while also getting a deep dive of the dba factory is too good
Wow, thanks! glad to hear that 😌
Is it weird to say that DBA changed my life? It remains an inspiration for me on so many levels, making me git all mushy about it on the interwebs. Much love, gratitude, and respect, DBA.
🔥👊🏽❤️🎸
🥰
That spring reverb is otherworldly awesome.
Oliver illustrating the importance of why kids should be taught to clean their room.
Protect this man at all cost
Seriously tho
Oliver love you man
Oliver is the most rock and roll a person can be, love death by Audio, love a place to bury strangers!
good people!
I miss going to shows at DBA. good times. 10 years of playing in bands without any of their pedals, now have a decent handful and no one to play with. fml.
So cool that he built a synthesizer out of a flight case!
that one kind of blew my mind, seriously a genius move
I love DBA and their pedals. Their support also is amazing. I sent my faulty micro dream delay to them and they have it fixed immediately! It took only a few days and sent back to me. Took only two weeks all in all! BTW, I'm residing in the Philippines so it was really a fast support from them. Thank you guys of DBA!
Very cool!
It’s so cool and fascinating how all DBA pedals have a certain sound, no matter if it’s a dirt pedal or crazy modulation, it’s got that gnarly dark thing happening. Same goes for Earthquaker, no matter which effect, they all sound like an Earthquaker pedal.
God, I love Oliver. The absolute nicest destructive guitar player ever.
“What if we took 15 practice amps to the show and threw them around”
*cut to those ZTs looking extremely nervous 😂
i come back to watch this all the time
Thoroughly enjoyed this, very inspiring, and that spring reverb box is fcuking mental
These people are great! I can't explain how happy the guy with the chainsaw in the basement made me. I love the fact companies like this exist and are successful.
When I was a sophomore in college I actually got the opportunity to jam out at the DBA factory and play the pedals that they had set up in their jam room (the room at the beginning). My close friend who I was in a band with knows Oliver and he let us visit when we were in NYC. I knew it was really special to be able to be there but I don't think I reallly understood the degree of it at the time 😅. I'm pretty sure they were getting tired of us making noise in their space but Oliver is such a nice and talented guy.
This gives the Nels Cline interview a run for its money.
the part where he shows his Jaguars really cracked me up 😀pure things in various states of desolation, broken in half, chainsawed. Also how he proceed to pack them in to the cello gigbag like piles of hay 😀
I saw A Place To Bury Strangers in Warsaw, Poland last week (my first gig of the year, just as they were last year too), as usual it was the perfect combo of madness and fun... and as usual my ears were still ringing the next day 😊 I'd absolutely love almost any Death By Audio pedal, but, much like Earthquaker gear, they're fairly expensive from a Polish perspective and way out of my budget - although I'd sell a kidney to get one of those spring reverbs, I bet it would sound immense on my synths 🥳 For me the moral of this video is: Be Like Oliver, because Oliver has the right approach to everything 👌
Let me assure you, they are super expansive from a Viennese perspective as well. I was lucky once, caught the EVIL FILTER for 270$ i believe it was.
This guy is my new favorite super hero. He’s a charming mess of a genius
this guy is a fucking legend , i wish nothing but success to him and APTBS
The original Death By Audio warehouse is now a Trader Joe's. I miss it so much. Made Williamsburg the place to be in the 2000s.
I love that absolutely grimey pedalboard,
Also, the shot of Oliver shoving guitars in the cello case as the guitars fall radiates chaotic energy.
Ps. I want those instrument/synth cases, I need a consumer version of those.
The square wave oscillator/particle wave refractor is pretty gnarly.
I wish I had just half the level of work ethic that Oliver does. What a legend
Man, the world needs more of this punk rock Gen X mindset today. Everyone is so busy faking it, conforming to social media corporate bs, and it’s so refreshing to see something real.
What a tryhard comment. You're so punk rock dude!
Oliver is a huge inspiration. Thank you for everything you do for music!
I love how you squeeze 3 guitars in one bag and that’s ready for check in 🙏
3 guitars in a cello bag is genius
@@EarthQuakerDevices I can imagine the cork-sniffers on the vintage offset guitar forums having a coronary watching that.
Was it only 3? I thought i counted 5. At least!
I cannot stress how fast I would add that Spring Reverb pedal to the studio and how often I would use it. Incredible. Holy shit.
My band was fortunate to play a show with APTBS last year and I it was incredible to see Oliver's gear setup. What appeared to me as full on chaos, it became obvious that he knew exactly what he was doing with each piece of his crazy gear puzzle. He was also just one of the nicest persons.
The way Oliver and Heather interact and talk to/about each other, you'd think they just started dating.
Fucking love seeing couples as happy and passionate as they are!
The term genius pales in comparison to this man. He built synthesizer flight cases! Dude is on another level
I saw A Place to Bury Strangers back in 2012 and I was gobsmacked by the sheer amount of DIY gear on the stage. With their amps painted and the weirdo rack gear on top, it looked like pretty much everything was custom made.
Great video. I first saw him in that Pedal Movie and this dives so much deeper into how an individual like this can succeed….a good partner who can set boundaries, pay the bills and let him be free to create.
I love this series and really hope you do one with JHS.
Thanks!
I love you guys! your place and all your stuff is amazing!
I played at the DBA space a bunch of times back then, many awesome memories ❤️
This is basically the sequel to Goodnight Brooklyn. Thank you! Great to see the new space!
Love this dude and his vision
Watch these all the time, awesome to finally see DBA!
One of the greatest videos I've ever seen. Everything he plays is amazing. He needs a podcast or something
Those flight case synths are so fuckin cool. Loving the vibe of this place, definitely fits with their pedals.
awesome vibes 🤙
this is the best factory visit type video thing I've ever seen. and know I wanna buy a dba pedal so it totally works
Oliver has the coolest messed up jaguars
Great video!!! I've been a long time DBA/APTBS fan. Some of the loudest pedals and shows ever! Thank you!
Rock on!
This explains A LOT
Really love you guys, Oliver is a great person and everyone at DBA is so kind
fully agree!
Wow he's even more chaotic than I imagined 🤩 just makes me want to buy more of his stuff. I've had a Fuzz Gun of his since forever
Awesome content-this stuff is super interesting, appreciate the view of the inner workings . Cheers BC
Glad you enjoyed it
Totally awesome. Oliver is a very inspiring person! It's cool to see how much fun he has while messing with all that crazy sounds.
very inspiring!
This was so interesting to watch! thank you!
I love how the first=st thing he does upon plugging every pedal in is to turn the knobs all the way up.
He looks exactly like Gregg Turkington from On Cinema. Holy S.
SUCH a great ep! Thanks so much EQD!!
Thank you for watching!!
Moved into a spot on the same block as this place during the early days of the pandemic. Always wanted to take a peak, but this is the next best thing :)
Very inspiring. Thanks! While doing a NYC tour, we got to rehearse in the "factory". Very generous, kind people.
so this is where all the gear I don’t have anymore went
Amazing video. Love Oliver, love Death by Audio, love it all.
Us too :) Thanks for watching!
Love DBA - Germanium Filter is an underrated gem because of the breadth of the filter. Seems like it just makes nasty noises but there's some great fuzz tones hidden in that simple box. Also cleans up with volume pedal like all the best fuzz pedals do.
Thanks for this great insight EQD
For sure!
Truly fascinating person. Excellent interview. He may be one of the most honest and genuine people I’ve ever seen. There seems to be no ego, artifice, guile, or anything but his genuine self. He is a true artist. The condition and treatment (stuffing 3 guitars into the cello bag) of some of gear is repulsive to my core instincts to care for and protect my gear, but I appreciate that he is different-he’s an artist and a genius.
Such kind words :)
I only currently own one pedal by them, but it's always on! Echo Dream II! It's such a dynamic pedal I love it. I definitely want to buy more of their stuff in the future (like this year lol)
Love these pedals for complete destruction of noise at the end of a set, Like landing a spacecraft loaded with noise.Love them on drum machines too!
Man, you have got a great collection of _Aspergillus niger_ growing on your gear. This is certainly the highest ammount of... 'mojo' I ever seen in a single video. Keep it up!
What a treat of a vid. Thanks y’all
Thank you :)
Heather seems really nice. ❤ from Australia 🇦🇺
Wow! Great tour. These synths look tasty. And nice trick with the 3 guitars in one bag. 😄
Its clever thinkin
Oh yeah! This is great! I like it when people have pedals that have been (thoroughly) used. Though I couldn't intentionally damage or destroy equipment myself. Like dropping a spring reverb, even if it creates an awesome sound! Don't think I would even if I could repair it myself, which I can't. Regardless, I always appreciate and respect that other people can. And is at times an attitude that I'm jealous of. :) Anyways, lovely video!
Thanks for watching!
You've got someone like Adrian Belew, who takes guitars on tour and they're still pristine years down the road, and then you've got Oliver Ackermann, piling guitars in a soft bag... 😅🤣
very good and inspiring vid. thanks for making this
Wow thanks! Glad you enjoyed it!
A place to bury strangers, I love them. Keep Slipping Away still gets regular play
Сумасшедшие вы ребята, и педали производите крутые нереально! Так держать!
Those flightcase synths are like the coolest thing ever!
Amazing work!
Imagine being the APTBS guitar tech lol...amazing episode as always
The spring reverb is pretty neat how it is already.
That spring reverb was awesome. I need one. Pleeeease make me one!!!
I want that double spring Reverb Box..
YOUR FFFFNNN' AWESOME DEATH BY AUDIO!!!
I NEED THAT SPRING REVERB.
This is great. Thank you.
Our pleasure!