Death By Audio is a New York-based guitar pedal company founded by Oliver Ackermann in 2002 as a way to pay for a trip to Europe. They grew organically from their debut pedal, Total Sonic Annihilation, with people requesting more varieties. Ackermann also says that during the time before the internet, he struggled to learn how to solder, stating that it took him years before he made his first circuit from scratch that worked.
Their business is strong due to their unique products that focus on noisy, chaotic sounds, the design of their pedals, of which Ackermann credits “submarine controls” as an inspiration, and the quality of their builds. I plan to replicate the strong elements of this business in my own business by practising building for a long time before releasing my first pedals in order to ensure that the quality of the build is of an excellent standard and creating strong visuals that draw the users into the pedal by using large exciting knobs and interesting graphics.
Currently, Death by Audio exists as a renowned pedal company, famed for their specialisation in high-quality, boutique, strange pedals used by artists such as The Flaming Lips, Lou Reed, Radiohead, Nine Inch Nails, My Bloody Valentine, Animal Collective, Xiu Xiu, The Strokes and many more.
Oliver Ackermann is the frontman of the band A Place To Bury Strangers. Being a working musician and owning/running a pedal company is something that Oliver Ackermann has made a balance between very well. Firstly, writing, recording and performing music often is something that requires equipment. Ackermann, being a builder, sets his limitations not by what the equipment will allow him but by what equipment he can build, which allows him and his bandmates to achieve unique, boundary-pushing tones furthering both his musical project and the products that Death By Audio has available. Running a pedal company and performing in a band, both endeavours have influence over the other, they are both great publicity for one another and bring opportunities for both pedal building and performance. I would like to perform regularly with the bands I am in and my live scoring using the pedals I build in order to broaden my sound, promote my pedal business and if my pedal business succeeds, promote my musical acts.