d&b audiotechnik KSL Series supports business growth

Jay Productions reaps benefits of investment in KSL Line Arrays

Jay Productions, established in 2008 by Jason Ghazal, has developed into one of Australia’s fastest growing and highest quality production companies. The expansion of the business has been matched by significant investment in inventory, including the recent acquisition of a d&b audiotechnik KSL Series line array with KSL8 and KSL12 elements, plus SL-Subs and amp racks from distributor NAS.

Suthagar ‘Suth’ Karunanithi, Jay Productions’ Head of Sales, describes the journey from supplying weddings to producing events for A-list clients, “Founder Jason started small, working out of his Dad’s garage, jumping into his first warehouse three or four years later, and he hasn’t stopped growing the business since. I started about eight years ago as a subcontractor and general labourer and now I’m sitting here as Head of Sales having witnessed this phenomenal shift from social events to the annual ground activations for Kia at the Australian Open, and international concerts.”

Jay Productions had a history with d&b, “Jay started off with a d&b V line array system which we still hold and use for our weekly jobs. As we moved into festivals and larger scale events, we decided to invest in a more powerful line array and open up a new market. We currently have 16 KSL top boxes, 12 KSL 8s, four KSL 12s, and eight SLG subs.”

Jay Productions’ decision to opt for the KSL Series over other brands was motivated by the requests for KSLs on the riders for big events, “Personally I produce a lot of touring Indian concerts and other international cultural shows and they were specifically asking for KSLs. They all want the wide throw for the arenas. We also saw it on the Lost Paradise rider quite a few times, and for Summer Camp Festival.”

Since acquiring the KSL line array, Jay Productions haven’t looked back, “We got it in the middle of last year and started using it straight away at a few outdoor festivals. The first one I took it on was Lost Paradise 2022 in Glenworth Valley. Nowadays the sales team are competing with each other as to who can get their hands on it first, a good issue to have!”

It has just come back from Clearly Music, Art and Wellness Festival in Kiama, with Xavier Rudd and Peter Garrett headlining, and is locked in for Parramatta Park for New Year’s Eve, and has been quoted for Summer Camp Festival, “We also collaborate with another local company operating in a different market but where the KSL is also in demand. We work in partnership to share our d&b inventory for a variety of shows.”

Suth and the rest of the team are thoroughly enjoying the KSL Series, “As we had been running on Vs for quite a long time, the KSL has been a big step up. The longer throw means we can use the KSL for 10-20,000 plus festivals and arenas; the Vs are for our under 10,000 events. At the bigger festivals and auditoriums, we use the KSLs for our main hangs and the Vs as our front fill. If we needed side hangs, we’d also use the Vs.”

The ease of use of the d&b range has made the integration of the KSL system straightforward, “Out of the box, the KSL sounds great and, depending on the space, only needs a few tweaks on the system EQ. Together as a complete system with the SL-GSUBs, the coverage and quality that can be achieved is always powerful and predictable.”

“They are really easy to get up in the air. The d&b ArrayCalc software is intuitive and assists to work out the splay angles and makes hanging them simple and quick. ArrayCalc also provides comprehensive rigging documentation that our system designer can hand to technicians on site to hang the PA for the desired coverage. The predictive SPL mapping that the software generates always ensures we can get the maximum desired coverage from the KSL line array. I’ve used it at boxing events where we are doing four or five hangs and I just give a sheet to each person and everyone gets their hang right first time.”

Whilst Jay Production’s expanded inventory is playing a significant part in the company’s success, Suth also puts the growth in high profile customers down to the team’s passion and skills, “That’s driven by the care that Jason himself has put into developing his staff. As owner of the company, he’s always looked after the welfare of the staff onsite and made sure they’ve got everything that they need.

He never skimps on equipment. All the gear that we stock is top notch, nothing second grade. We spend a lot of time and energy in the warehouse maintaining the equipment and have a high care factor. We have clients thinking that the gear we are lending them is brand new, but it will be four or five years old, and we have just looked after it. That’s where excellent relationships with the distributors, like NAS, really count.”