Oliver Ackermann | |
---|---|
Born | Allentown, Pennsylvania, U.S. | November 22, 1976
Origin | Fredericksburg, Virginia, U.S. |
Genres | Noise rock, shoegazing, post-punk, experimental rock |
Occupation(s) | Musician, effects equipment engineer |
Instrument(s) | Guitar, vocals |
Labels | Killer Pimp, Vacancy Records Important Records, Mute, Dead Oceans, Death By Audio |
Member of | A Place to Bury Strangers |
Formerly of | Skywave |
Website | www |
Oliver Edward Ackermann (born November 22, 1976) is an American rock musician, who is the founder of the Brooklyn-based effects pedal company Death By Audio and is guitarist and vocalist for A Place to Bury Strangers, a rock band hailed as "the loudest band in New York". [1]
Ackermann was born in Allentown, Pennsylvania. He spent his childhood in St. Peter, Minnesota and Fredericksburg, Virginia attending Falmouth Elementary School, Drew Middle School, and Stafford High School.
Ackermann studied Industrial Design at the Rhode Island School of Design. [2] He returned to Fredericksburg, Virginia and worked at Zolo Designs.
Ackermann currently resides in Brooklyn, New York and is a contributor to the Death By Audio space and collective.
In 1995, Ackermann formed Skywave with Paul Baker. The duo joined with John Fedowitz on drums and put out recordings and toured during 1998 to 2003.
In 2002, Ackermann started the effects pedal company Death By Audio. [3]
When Baker and Fedowitz formed Ceremony, Ackermann moved to Brooklyn in 2003 and formed the band A Place to Bury Strangers with Tim Gregorio on bass and Justin Avery on drums.
In 2007, he teamed up with Richard Fearless from Death In Vegas to form Black Acid only to later disband it as A Place to Bury Strangers was gaining global acclaim.
At Death by Audio, Ackermann designs and manufactures hand-wired guitar-effects pedals, [1] and has provided custom effects equipment to bands such as U2, Wilco, and Nine Inch Nails. [4]
The former Death By Audio location also operated as a live/work environment for artists and musicians, recording studio, and art/music venue.[ citation needed ]
An effects unit, effects processor, or effects pedal is an electronic device that alters the sound of a musical instrument or other audio source through audio signal processing.
Fredericksburg is an independent city in Virginia, United States. As of the 2020 census, the population was 27,982. It is 48 miles (77 km) south of Washington, D.C., and 53 miles (85 km) north of Richmond. The Bureau of Economic Analysis of the United States Department of Commerce combines the city of Fredericksburg with neighboring Spotsylvania County for statistical purposes.
Robert Steven "Adrian" Belew is an American musician, singer, songwriter, and record producer. A multi-instrumentalist primarily known as a guitarist and singer, he is noted for his unusual approach to the instrument, his playing often resembling sound effects or noises made by animals and machines.
Lightning Bolt is an American noise rock duo from Providence, Rhode Island, composed of Brian Chippendale on drums and vocals and Brian Gibson on bass guitar. The band met and formed in 1994 as students of the Rhode Island School of Design. Lightning Bolt were listed 8th in Metacritic's Artists of the Decade 2000–09.
Whiskeytown was an American alternative country band formed in 1994 from Raleigh, North Carolina. Fronted by Ryan Adams, the group included members Caitlin Cary, Phil Wandscher, Eric "Skillet" Gilmore, and Mike Daly. They disbanded in 2000 with Adams leaving to pursue his solo career. Whiskeytown gradually expanded its sound outside the confines of alternative country while still maintaining its alternative roots.
Swirlies is an American indie rock band formed in Boston in 1990. Since their first records in the early 1990s, the band has released studio and home recordings that blend shoegaze and twee pop with electronica and lo-fi music.
Keller Williams is an American singer, songwriter and musician who combines elements of bluegrass, folk, alternative rock, reggae, electronica/dance, jazz, funk, along with other assorted genres. He is often described as a 'one-man jam-band' due to his frequent use of live phrase looping with multiple instruments. Keller Williams was born in Fredericksburg, Virginia on February 4, 1970, and began playing the guitar in his early teens. He later matriculated at Virginia Wesleyan College in Virginia Beach where he received his degree in theater. After college, he moved to Colorado to advance his music career and expand his repertoire.
A one-man band is a musician who plays a number of instruments simultaneously using their hands, feet, limbs, and various mechanical or electronic contraptions. One-man bands also often sing while they perform.
James LoMenzo is an American musician, currently the bassist for thrash metal band Megadeth. LoMenzo was a member of White Lion, performing with them from 1984 to 1991. He was later the bassist for Black Label Society, Slash's Snakepit, David Lee Roth and John Fogerty. LoMenzo was the bassist for Megadeth from 2006 to 2010, and rejoined the band as a touring member in August 2021, before becoming a permanent member again in June 2022. Outside music, he is known for being a contestant on the 21st season of the reality television series The Amazing Race.
Marco Benevento is an American pianist, songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, and record producer, who has been a fixture of the New York experimental music rock and jazz scene since 1999. He is the founder and recording engineer of Fred Short, a recording studio in Upstate New York, and a member of the rock groups Benevento/Russo Duo and Joe Russo's Almost Dead, both of which feature his regular musical collaborator Joe Russo.
Distortion and overdrive are forms of audio signal processing used to alter the sound of amplified electric musical instruments, usually by increasing their gain, producing a "fuzzy", "growling", or "gritty" tone. Distortion is most commonly used with the electric guitar, but may also be used with other electric instruments such as electric bass, electric piano, synthesizer and Hammond organ. Guitarists playing electric blues originally obtained an overdriven sound by turning up their vacuum tube-powered guitar amplifiers to high volumes, which caused the signal to distort. While overdriven tube amps are still used to obtain overdrive, especially in genres like blues and rockabilly, a number of other ways to produce distortion have been developed since the 1960s, such as distortion effect pedals. The growling tone of a distorted electric guitar is a key part of many genres, including blues and many rock music genres, notably hard rock, punk rock, hardcore punk, acid rock, and heavy metal music, while the use of distorted bass has been essential in a genre of hip hop music and alternative hip hop known as "SoundCloud rap".
Paul Emlyn Crowther is the former drummer of Split Enz who performed with the band from July 1974 to November 1976.
BlueBOB is the debut studio album by the American director and musician David Lynch and audio engineer John Neff. It was released in December 2001 on Absurda—Lynch's own record label—and Soulitude Records. Recorded over a 23-month period from 1998 to 2000 at Lynch's home studio, BlueBOB was originally an experiment by Lynch and Neff that evolved into a full-length album.
A Place to Bury Strangers are an American rock band formed in 2002, in New York City. The trio is currently composed of Oliver Ackermann, John Fedowitz and Sandra Fedowitz (drums). Commonly known by the initials APTBS, the band plays a heavy, atmospheric Wall of Sound–influenced blend of noise rock, shoegaze and space rock.
Death By Audio was a warehouse space on the first floor of an industrial building in the Williamsburg neighborhood of Brooklyn, New York. The warehouse took its name from the boutique effects pedal company, Death By Audio, based in the space. The company was founded in 2002 by Oliver Ackermann, the lead singer of the New York City-based noise rock band A Place to Bury Strangers.
This is a glossary of jazz and popular music terms that are likely to be encountered in printed popular music songbooks, fake books and vocal scores, big band scores, jazz, and rock concert reviews, and album liner notes. This glossary includes terms for musical instruments, playing or singing techniques, amplifiers, effects units, sound reinforcement equipment, and recording gear and techniques which are widely used in jazz and popular music. Most of the terms are in English, but in some cases, terms from other languages are encountered.
Fuzz bass is a style of playing the electric bass or modifying its signal that produces a buzzy, distorted, overdriven sound, as the name implies. Overdriving a bass signal significantly changes the timbre, adds higher overtones (harmonics), increases the sustain, and, if the gain is turned up high enough, creates a "breaking up" sound characterized by a growling, buzzy tone.
Dion Lunadon is a New Zealand born musician. He is known for being the guitarist and singer of The D4 and bass player in A Place To Bury Strangers. He is also known for his high energy and often unpredictable stage presence.
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Starlite & Campbell is a group based in Portugal. Formed in 2016, the band is led by married couple Suzy Starlite and Simon Campbell. Their debut album, Blueberry Pie was nominated for a European Blues Award in November 2017 and blends British blues, British rock, blues and British folk.