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He'll often end gigs with all six strings frayed and broken from the abuse. He stomps pedals and tweaks knobs and pulls the strings on his guitar as he brings that atmosphere up to the critical point where you feel the sound just can't get any deeper or more complex. You can sense that improvisational edge in Ackermann's live performances: he wraps the crowd in a cocoon of distortion, his hushed vocals and obscure melodies pulling them into a sort of noise-fueled hypnotic trance. "But sometimes you try it out, and it's just not that exciting." The noise brings an improvisational spirit to his music, he says, only with textures and timbres instead of melodies and hooks.
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"There's this whole science behind how to design sound," he explains. Unpredictability is a big part of that noise. That output tends to be dense, complex and extremely loud, a product of the perfect noise Ackermann is constantly pursuing as an effects designer.
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Cabinet speakers wired to various triggers and delay effects that can alter the colour and character of the whole band's output at a moment's notice. A modified Fender Twin amp stack customized with a spring reverb effect that lets Ackermann wring endless layers of distortion from his guitar by physically moving the gear (he demonstrates by shaking the tower back and forth).
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Tall and reedy, with fuzzy caterpillar-like eyebrows and an unwavering smile that runs almost the whole width of his stubbled face, he wanders from room to room, pointing out various bits of equipment he's been designing for A Place to Bury Strangers' upcoming tour: a series of black rubber pads mounted with electrical tape on a metal box that allows the band's drummer to trigger various samples with his acoustic kit. "Welcome to my home!" Ackermann greets visitors with arms outstretched, as if to encompass as much of the chaos as possible.Ĭhaos is a good word to describe his aesthetic. The dominant mode of this makeshift working-playing-living space is of constant coming and going.
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Black boxes full of audio equipment lie stacked amongst the furniture, various loftmates weaving their way around them through narrow corridors of empty space.
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Shelves are lined with metal casings and circuit boards and stacks of empty cups. Here, in his industrial loft on the outskirts of Williamsburg, his office and workshop are steps from his practice space and recording studio, his living room and bedroom. "They're in it for all the right reasons."Īckermann lives his work. is just about hilarity, discovery - and just craziness," he says of Death by Audio. Clif Taylor, a guitarist, filmmaker and self-avowed effects pedal geek who featured Ackermann in Fuzz: The Sound That Revolutionized the World, a documentary on the history of guitar effects, explains that Death by Audio's products go far beyond just reviving the art of vintage effects. "Some of my pedals will actually destroy your equipment if you don't use them correctly," Ackermann warns. With the help of his handcrafted noisemakers, Ackermann is stamping his signature on the sound of rock.ĭeath by Audio has gained a reputation for its wildly unique sound - often achieved by breaking every established rule of audio technology. When not destroying instruments onstage with his band, Ackermann spends daylight hours maintaining his primary business: Death by Audio, a boutique guitar effects-pedal manufacturer whose recent clients include Nine Inch Nails' Trent Reznor, U2's The Edge, Wilco's Jeff Tweedy, and My Bloody Valentine's Kevin Shields. Fresh off a European summer tour, he and his band, A Place to Bury Strangers, have just embarked on another transatlantic tour in support of a new album, Exploding Head - the band's first full-fledged studio album and their first recording for Mute Records. It's taken Oliver Ackermann a long time to arrive at the point where music is everything - fifteen years of constant touring and tinkering and flying just under the radar, to be exact.