Jeremy Kusner, owner of JK Productions for the past 22 years, is excited to step into the future with the investment of a DiGiCo S31 digital mixing console.
JK Productions is a company unlike any other in South Africa. While the Johannesburg based business offers a full technical solution for events including lighting, audio, staging and AV, it has a playful and fun side to the business owning at least 300 pieces of entertainment equipment, ranging from carnival rides to jumping castles, fun food machines, juke boxes gaming and arcade equipment to mention just a few.
JK Productions also provides an entertainment artist consultancy business to its clients as an added bonus. This is all possible due to Jeremy’s many years of experience in the entertainment creative and technical spaces. “Offering these complimentary solutions has made us a unique and diverse company in the industry,” he says.
“I’m the maverick in the industry,” grins Jeremy, a family man with a beautiful soul. “When everybody goes one direction, I go the opposite way. So, it was with my previous audio console which did us very well, but being an entry-level professional desk, we finally reached a point where we had to get something bigger to meet our growing needs and that of our clients.
“We looked at various brands and models and eventually chose the DiGiCo S31 for many reasons, firstly for the great support and people at DWR Distribution. Over the years we’ve bought various other bits of gear from DWR, but this is our first major purchase and knowing that DWR has always got our back it became a very easy decision. We are super excited because it’s going to put us into a different league, enabling us to get those bigger gigs that we are looking to do, and the future looks exciting.”
Darren Durbach, who recently joined DWR Distribution and is known for his determined dedication and perseverance, was thrilled to sell his first DiGiCo console to Jeremy, a friend in the industry for over thirty years.
“Sometimes I need a bit of a cracker up the old backside,” Jeremy remarks. “I always say that I’m the snail in the race, never mind the tortoise! I can be very slow, old school and methodical, but enjoying the journey is more important to me than winning the race.”
He adds, “DiGiCo is an incredible brand with such pedigree and heritage, and it will be super exciting to see the console on our gigs and showcase it to our clients. We feel like grown-ups now that we own a DiGiCo desk. The desk is beautifully crafted and engineered with good build quality that is made to last and is ideal for our market.”
The console will be operated by Emmanuel Sibisi, the chief technical engineer at JK Productions, who has been with the company for over 15 years. “The S31 is really nice, and it will just be a matter of getting used to the new equipment,” comments Emmanuel. “As my teacher, Kyle Robson from DWR says, all I have to do is read the screen!”
Says Kyle Robson, “The thing about the DiGiCo S31 is that we see the growth of the audio engineers the more they play on it. I’m very excited to see what gigs will be coming up for JK Productions!”
JK Productions work on a wide combination of events from top school and community shows to corporate events, high end private events and functions as well as everything in between. “We do not compete in the rock and roll business with the big boys, our PA currently can cover up to 2 000 PAX, and we are happy to stay there in that space,” says Jeremy. “I think the level of production, even in smaller events these days, is huge and the need to produce top quality high-end shows is becoming the norm. Attention to detail and intimate bespoke service is what our clients expect from us, that’s why they come back over again, which always leaves us with a sense of pride and achievement.”
Clients have a much higher expectation these days of what they want and expect a far greater level of technical excellence.
“If you take, for example, our arcade machines, we have an old original PAC-MAN machine that went out to a function recently. We received a phone call from the client to say that there was something wrong with the screeßn and that it seemed fuzzy. Turns out that there was nothing wrong with the screen, it’s an original CRT display and it’s just that our eyes are now so attuned to HD, 4K and 8K that it seemed faulty. It’s the same with audio. As audio technology advances the need for higher audio definition is now the norm and not the exception. It’s amazing how we can hear the difference in the audio quality on a DiGiCo desk and it’s that attention to detail which makes such a difference and why we are looking forward to this new chapter.”
Darren Durbach from DWR was ecstatic about the sale. “Especially as it was my first DiGiCo sale, and I had a sense of relief and excitement,” he admits. “In terms of DWR, it’s always such a team effort with everyone adding input which is paramount in putting these things together. We all have the same intention and goal so a big thanks to everyone I work with including Kyle Robson, Jaco Beukes, Richard Smith, Dylan Jones and Jade Manicom. I have known Jeremy since I was eighteen years old when I first started working at Wild & Marr. He is energetic, vibey, passionate, committed and always professional with old school values, and with this investment he has taken JK Productions to the next level. Thank you, Jeremy, I’m very happy for you.”