Category: News

  • Clients Summer 2011

    Clients Summer 2011

    It was a busy summer for JPJ Audio, the merged operation of Jands Production Services and Johnston Audio. JPJ Audio provided audio and production services for theatre shows, television spectaculars, corporate events and numerous concerts. Here’s some of the shows we worked on:

    Festivals Theatre / Television House Systems
    Big Day Out Hairspray the Musical Luna Park Big Top
    Good Vibrations Festival The Boy From Oz State Theatre Sydney
    Laneway Festival Music of Andrew Lloyd  Webber Hordern Pavilion
    Sound Wave Festival Dr Zhivargo
    Future Music Festival Australia’s Got Talent
    Sound Relief 2 River Dance
    Concerts and Tours Concerts and Tours Corporate Events
    Bear Grylls Billy Connolly Live at the Apple Store
    Chris Isaak Cyndi Lauper Australia Day Live-Canberra
    Foo Fighters Live on the Harbour INXS Rose Bay Flood Relief
    Joe Cocker Kool and the Gang Mardi Gras
    Lionel Ritichie Nitro Circus Regional Tour Top Gear Live
    Ragga-muffin Rihanna Silver Party
    Santana Sting Symphonicity Tour The Sydney Kings
    Stone Temple Pilots Take 40 Live Lounge Sydney Myer
    Clipsal 500 V8 Race Concerts Usher at Acer Arena David Jones

  • Massive Attack – Sydney Opera House

    Massive Attack – Sydney Opera House forecourt

    Massive Attack toured Australia in March 2010 off the back of their album `Heligoland`. JPS provided a L-Acoustics K1 system for the tour.

    Tour Dates

    March 12, Perth, Kings Park
    March 15, Sydney, Opera House Forecourt
    March 19, Canberra, Royal Theatre
    March 20, Melbourne, Myer Music Bowl
    March 21, Adelaide, Entertainment Centre
    March 23, Brisbane, Riverstage

    Speaker System L-Acoustics K1
    24 K1 Enclosures
    12 dV Dosc
    8 x Arcs
    16 x SB28 Sub Bass Enclosures
    Amplifiers
    12 LA Rack
    36 L-Acoustics LA8 Amplifiers
  • Vale Bruce Jackson

    Bruce Jackson

    It was with great sadness that we learned of the death of Bruce Jackson, one of the two founders of Jands.

    Along with his school friend Philip Storey, Bruce formed J & S Research Electronics in the late 1960s, the company which soon became known as Jands.

    In 1970, Bruce sold his share of Jands and went to America, where he did live sound for performers such as Elvis Presley, Bruce Springsteen and Barbara Streisand. Bruce went on to become one of the pioneers of the live audio industry, working with Clair Brothers Audio, Apogee Electronics and Lake Technology to develop many sound technologies we take for granted today.

    Bruce will be sorely missed by his many friends around the world, and by those of us at Jands who knew him from the early days, or who got to know him more recently through his involvement with the Sydney Olympics and other major events.

    Our heartfelt condolences to Bruce’s family and to all who knew him, worked with him and appreciated his immense contribution to the audio industry.

    Links

    http://clairglobal.com/bruce-jackson/

  • Gorillaz Tour 2010

    The world’s most famous virtual band, Gorillaz, made their live debut in Australia in December 2010.

    After headlining the UK’s Coachella and Glastonbury festivals earlier in the year, Gorillaz headed to the Southern Hemisphere to tour Perth, Adelaide, Melbourne, Sydney, Brisbane and then Auckland.

    The band – the brainchild of Blur singer Damon Albarn and Tank Girl cartoonist Jamie Hewlitt – consists of an eccentric animated quartet: singer and keyboardist 2-D, bassist Murdoc, guitarist Noodle and drummer Russel Hobbs.

    As part of their first world tour the band included over 20 musicians on stage at any one time. JAS provided a D&B J system – and lots of it.

    Date

    December 11, 16, 19, 21

    System

    60 x d&b J series
    16 x d&b J-sub
    18 x d&b B2
    Powered by d&b D12 amplifiers

    FOH

    DiGiCo SD7

    Monitors

    DiGiCo SD7
    24 x L-Acoustics 115xt HiQ wedges

    JAS audio crew

    Craig Gordon
    Conor Dunne
    Guto Magic – Otavio Santos
    Matthew ‘Boz’ Boaro

  • Powderfinger Farewell Tour 2010

    Powderfinger hit the road late in 2010 for their farewell tour of Australia and New Zealand. The band had decided after 20 years of making music and touring the world to call it a day and set out on the Sunsets Farewell tour. It consisted of arenas for the capitals cities and big-top tents for the regional areas. They toured for 3 months in total.

    The band’s FOH operator Mark McElligot contacted JAS and asked for a D&B J system for the tour. He was enthusiatic about the systems amazing sound quality and knew that because of its size and weight it would be ideal for the big-top tents.

    The system design incorporated J8 & J12 for the main and side hangs. J-subs were also flown with B2 subs on the ground.
    The tour also had a B stage just in front of the FOH desk and with a separate monitor system package.

    At Acer arena in Sydney a 2nd audio system was supplied and flown above the B stage and thus above the band.

    Jet supported Powderfinger on the whole tour with FOH duties by “John Boy Rock” and Monitors by Will Burston.

    Date

    September 1 – October 16 2010

    System

    60 x d&b J series
    16 x d&b J-sub
    18 x d&b B2
    Powered by d&b D12 amplifiers

    Acer Arena B stage system

    48 x Adamson Y18
    24 x Adamson Y10

    FOH

    1 x Midas XL4
    1 x Midas XL3 extender sidecar (B stage mix)
    1 x Digidesign Profile (Jet and other acts)

    Monitor system

    1 x PM5DRH console
    Nexo PS15 wedges
    Nexo Alpha M3 side-fill system

    JAS Audio Touring Crew

    Conor Dunne
    Craig Gordon
    Mark Crawley

  • The FIFA Fan Fest in Sydney

    Fanfest Darling Harbour

    While 32 nations played in the 2010 FIFA World Cup, Sydney was one of only six cities around the world to host an International FIFA Fan Fest. More than 500,000 people visited the Cockle Bay and Tumbalong Park sites, at Darling Harbour, where all 64 matches were broadcast live on four large screens.

    JPS provided sound reinforcement and crew for the 31 day event.

    Dates June 11, 2010 – July 12, 2010
    Sydney Darling Harbour
    JPS Crew
    Dean Mizzi, Matt Debien, Tristian Johnson, Adam Williams, Shane Oldham, Tim Seconi, Raoul Plimer
    Speaker System JBL VerTec
    18 x JBL VerTec 4889 Enclosures
    16 x JPS 18″ Subwoofers
    16 x Crown MA5002VZ
    FOH Drive System
    1 x Dolby Lake DLP 4D12 Mesa
    1 x Motion 1200 Wireless Tablet
    4 x BSS FDS-366 Omni Drives
    1 x BSS FCS-960 EQ
    4 x BSS FCS-926 Omni Drives
    FOH Control
    1 x Soundcraft Vi6
    1 x Yamaha M7CL 48 Ch Digital Console
    1 x Tascam CD-RW901SL
    2 x Denon DCD-695 CD Players
    Radio Mics
    9 x Shure UR4D Dual Receivers
    12 x ShureUR2 Hand Held Transmitters c/w Beta 58 capsules
    Monitor System
    12 x Clair Bros 12AM Monitor Speakers
    4 x Clair Bros R4 MkIII Side Fill Cabinets
    1 x Clair ML18 Subwoofer
    12 x Crown MA3600VZ Amplifiers
    4 x Crown MA9001 Amplifiers
    8 x Lake Clair iO’s
    6 x Sennheiser G2 IEM systems
    2 x Shure PSM 600 systems
    1 x Yamaha PM5D-RH Digital Console
  • JPS in merger talks with Johnston Audio

    Australasia’s leading touring audio suppliers; Jands Production Services Pty Limited (JPS) and Johnston Audio Services, (JAS) have entered into a Heads of Agreement to merge the two companies. The Heads of Agreement is subject to undertaking of due diligence which is expected to be completed by the end of June.

    Both companies have long histories in the touring sound market and over the past four decades have supplied production services to nearly every major tour and music event in Australia and New Zealand.

    Eric Robinson, CEO of JPS, commented, “In our discussions it has become clear that we’re both facing the same challenges on large tours and music events. Our clients are looking to us for increased efficiencies and jointly we’ll be able to respond in a way that reduces costs, expands our equipment offerings, and solves logistical problems. Potentially it brings major benefits to promoters and touring artists.”

    The companies will continue to operate from their existing premises in Sydney and Melbourne and both expect to benefit by having access to a larger pool of equipment and expertise. The merged group expects to use the synergies of working together to deliver outstanding service for their clients.

    Commenting on the move, JAS Managing Director Bruce Johnston stated, “I am excited about the new equipment and services we’ll be able to bring to our customers. The combination of JAS and JPS will create one of the best audio companies in the world, providing real benefits to Australian and international artists.”

    The merger of the two companies will increase the level of support and service available to JPS and JAS clients and reinforces the group’s ongoing commitment to meeting the challenges of the modern touring market. Together the companies intend to remain at the forefront of technology, clearly demonstrated by the recent introduction of new speaker systems and significant investment in control and amplification packages.

    Jands Production Services was founded in 1970 and operates in the theatre, corporate and touring audio markets.

    Johnston Audio Services commenced operations in 1985 and provides audio for tours, festivals and fixed installations.

  • Russell Peters 2010

    Global comedy ‘rock-star’, Russell Peters, brought his hillarious Green Card Tour to Australia in May. As part of his “Green Card Tour,” the shows featured all new material since the release of his latest DVD, “Red, White and Brown”. He was recently ranked by Forbes — along with Jerry Seinfeld and Chris Rock — as one of the top ten highest grossing stand-up comics in the U.S.

    JAS supplied a D&B J series arena system for the shows at the Acer arena in Sydney and the Rod Laver arena in Melbourne.

    Date

    May 8, 9, 11, 14, 17, 20

    System

    56 x D&B J
    12 x D&B J-sub
    6 x D&B B2 sub
    Digidesign SC48 FOH console

    JAS crew

    Audio system tech: Doug Pringle
    Audio system tech: Otavio ‘Guto!!’ Santos

  • Bob Geldoff 2003

    Bob Geldoff at the Athenaeum – Packed house…what a sound!

    3 hours – three encores. What can you say? The guy has a calm casual persona that tends to endear most everybody he meets. Bob was great. The band was great. And the sound was fantastic. Amazing really when you consider, the little Nexo PS8’s are so small, it almost looked like there was no PA system at all.

    Sean Busby-Little was in control of FOH and he did a great job. Sean, as you would expect, has worked throughout the world and used a multitude of systems. He has been using Nexo’s in the UK but said “This has to be one of the best setups I believe I have used” and then with tongue in cheek he went on to say “It must be the air down under or something”.

    But seriously, Sean only had extremely nice things to say about the setup. Big credit really to the whole crew. Not so much for any effort of lugging boxes, but simply for the careful and thoughtful placement of the system.

    Sean Busby-Little at the FOH desk. At the sound check, he got a bit serious and had it so cranked that we could hear the drum check very clearly from the coffee shop next door (If you know the Athenaeum – it is through two sets of closed doors, the foyer, past the stairs another set of doors and in the rear theatre). And even from the coffee shop it was as clear as a bell.

    Prior to the gig. Looking back at the Athenaeum from the bands perspective. Very refreshing to not see stacks of PA speakers everywhere.