My career started in radio where I worked behind the scenes until one day a travel presenter was ill and I was shoved in front of a microphone. Getting paid to talk into a stick seemed like a good deal so for the next 15 years I worked my way up through local radio before ending up in London presenting the morning show on the national rock station Planet Rock. Here I met and interviewed pretty much every rock star you could think of including Dave Grohl, Ozzy Osbourne, Alice Cooper, Jeff Beck, Jimmy Page etc. 

I launched Made by DBM in 2015 to help businesses explain things and reach bigger audiences using animation and video production. I also offer post-production services such as video editing and am fluent with Adobe Premiere Pro and DaVinci Resolve.

Over the past couple of years, the popularity of podcasting has shot up again and it’s allowed me to use all the recording, editing, presenting and interviewing skills I gained during 15 years of radio broadcasting to help people make podcasts that are creative, great-sounding and a cut above their competitors.

Since launching Made by DBM, I’ve been trusted by everyone from high-street banks to start-ups to get their messages across to their target audiences and reach new customers. I specialise in B2B and internal comms though still take on some consumer-facing projects.

I live in Bromham, Bedfordshire with my wife, daughter and dog. Dave Grohl rarely phones.

Rob Birnie and the Foo Fighters

Me during my short and under-reported stint as Foo Figters’ cowbell player.

Surpassed our expectations

The final animation surpassed our expectations – full of originality and creativity. Using animation was a real departure for our client, but we were both thrilled with the results.
Hayley Williams from Keystone marketing

Hayley Williams – Keystone

We’ll be using him again!

Rob has been fantastic at helping us transform complex concepts into attractive easy to understand graphics totally in line with our branding. He was wonderful to work with, personable with a lightness of touch – we will be using him again!
Sarah Williamson - WomanWise

Sarah Williamson – WomenWise

Helped our sales grow

Working with Rob is always fun! Flicx have used Rob’s animation and video services to bring our products to life and create engaging assets for our marketing campaigns. Rob has produced great content for us which has helped our sales to grow.
Kate Costin - Flicx

Kate Costin – Flicx

Couldn’t have done it without him

There are many good things about working with Rob – he’s efficient, funny, kind, creative – the list goes on! He’s really supported the Conscious Leaders Podcast and I couldn’t have done it without him. He creates grabbing animations and edits like a wizard! Thanks Rob – you’re a star!
Ruth Farenga - Conscious Leaders

Ruth Farenga – Conscious Leaders

Everything’s on time and on budget

Some people prefer watching a video to reading text which makes Rob’s animations invaluable to my clients. He recently took a client’s complex SaaS technology and concisely animated its features and benefits in an engaging series of brief videos. And Rob is a pro; everything arrives on time and on budget.
J Laurence Srno - Mia Bazo

Laurence Sarno – Mia Bazo

Extremely stress-free

Launching such a unique product to the market has been tricky at times but Rob made translating the unique benefits of the RBR Legflow into clear and understandable animations extremely stress-free. He understood how to communicate the product and help raise awareness of Thrombosis with his animations.
Paul Westerman - RBR Active

Paul Westerman – RBR Active

Brilliant to work with

I worked with Rob on some social media videos for my business. He was just brilliant to work with, had great communication skills and took my scrap of an idea and turned it into something even better than I imagined! I would not hesitate to work with him again.
Tabitha Mary

Tabitha Mary

Magical powers!

I can’t recommend Rob highly enough. He completely understood what I was trying to achieve and then used his magical powers to create something really special for us.

Sarah Elam – The Harpur Trust (formerly)