PP Sound Light Production Acquires India's first DiGiCo
Quantum 338 system
PP Sound Lights Productions - Prem Bhoir (L) and Prasad Parkar (R)
While many companies have been forced to downsize due to the apparent effects of the pandemic,
Mumbai - based PP Sound Light Production have conversely displayed a great deal of growth - in terms
of the volume of gigs that the company has commissioned post-lockdown, as well as its ever-evolving
inventory thanks to a steady stream of investment into multiple industry leading state-of-the-art
technologies and systems.
And the company's latest acquisition of a brand new DiGiCo Quantum 338 system has now earned PP
Sound Light Production the distinction of being first equipment rental service company in India to
do so.
Making sense of the purchase from a business perspective, Prasad Parkar - Director of PP Sound
Lights Production notes, "Almost every musical and large show that comes in for inquiry, specifies
DiGiCo; and we've noticed over the past few years that most performers, artists and event producers
alike have favoured DiGiCo consoles because of the host of capabilities that they're known to offer.
So, we've been pondering the decision to invest in a DiGiCo console system for quite a while now.
Fortunately, the availability of the Quantum 338 in India came in at an opportune moment - and this
pretty much made it a default option for our purchase consideration, owing to the fact that the
console sports an undoubtedly advanced set of features and capabilities. We knew that the being the
first in India to acquire the Quantum 338 would not only assure us maximum ROI, but would also allow
us the capacity to offer the very best in sound, features, performance, and reliability to our
clients and the performing artists that we work with."
Business acumen in tow - the PP Sound Light Production team did invest a sizeable amount of time and
effort in researching all about the comprehensive list of technical capabilities offered by the
Quantum 338 system; all of which further strengthened the investment decision in favour of DiGiCo.
Prem Bhoir - CEO of PP Sound Light Production elaborates, "Prem says: "The Quantum 338 scores really
high points when it comes to being ergonomically stylish, functional and powerful. The interface is
smooth, friendly, familiar, and adaptive; while also sporting certain functions that are specific to
the Quantum range, such as the True Solo function, Spice Rack plugin style native FPGA processing
options, and of course, the Mustard and Nodal processing options. The important thing with the
Quantum 338 is that it supports DMI Cards and therefore Dante, which enables us with the capacity to
provide a network enabled solution for intricately complex events and all types of major productions
- from tours to festivals to high-end corporate events. Complete control is made possible through
the console and Dante-enabled DQ-Racks. Having said this though, perhaps the most important factor
impacting our purchase decision was DiGiCo's ongoing support for its entire product line coupled
with the cross-compatibility between older and newer consoles. Therefore, with the DiGiCo Quantum
board, we knew that every engineer who comes in to work with us for an event would be comfortable.
The operating system is very similar across DiGiCo's entire platform - plus or minus a few features
here and there, which means that an engineer can easily adapt to the Quantum 338 console in a matter
of minutes, even if they have had little or no experience on the Quantum specifically. So basically,
if you know one of their consoles, you pretty much know them all. A cumulate sum of these features
means that we're afforded with the unparalleled level of flexibility to deploy the Q338 at FOH or
Monitors, while assuring a consistent world-class sonic experience all-through."
In terms of the actual investment itself, PP Sound Light Production have purchased a comprehensive
Quantum 338 system set which included a pair of DiGiCo's DMI-Dante 64@96 cards, two compact
DQ-Racks, and a host of other I/O cards in addition to the console itself; with the entire purchase
process facilitated through Delhi-based Hi-Tech Audio Systems who are the official distribution
partners for DiGiCo in India.
With this being PP Sound Light Production's first major purchase from Hi-Tech Audio Systems, Prasad
details the experience of doing business with the Delhi-based comprehensive solutions provider, as
he states, "When we learnt that the brand has an extremely strong representation in India through
its official distributors Hi-Tech Audio Systems, we knew that the entire purchase process - from
pre-sales demonstrations to after-sales service and support - would be taken care of with a great
deal of care and the utmost level of professionalism. Hi-Tech Audio are revered by many as an
industry stalwart with a long-standing reputation of consistent high-quality service, and of course,
introducing India to several path-breaking products and technologies in the world of professional
audio. And our experience was no different. It was a pleasure doing business with them during the
purchase of the DiGiCo Quantum 338 system."
It comes as no surprise that the PP Sound Light Production team wasted no time in deploying their
newly acquired DiGiCo Quantum 338 system on-field for an event, as Prem details, "To be honest, our
entire team of engineers is really impressed and happy with the purchase; and we couldn't wait for
the opportunity to get to use it on field - which we did in a matter of just 2 days after the system
was delivered to our office premise."
The system was deployed for a high-end corporate conference and award ceremony which took place at
the ultra-luxurious Taj Resort & Convention Centre in Goa; with the event spotlighting scintillating
live performances from Indian Idol fame singer Pawandeep and his band of live musicians. The Q338
was deployed as the main FOH console, with Hi-Tech Audio providing on-site technical assistance and
support for the event, as the console garnered a lot of praise from the performing artists as well
as the guest sound engineer - Rupjit Das - who mixed on the console during the gig.
Sharing his experiential feedback on the performance of the DiGiCo Quantum 338, Rupjit affirms,
"I've been doing live sound for nearly five years now and have always preferred using Digico SD
series. I like the pre amp, there is good level of warmth in the tone and compression, reverb, etc
and the effects are spot on. The end product is always crystal-clear sound. The corporate event in
Goa at the Taj Convention Centre was my first time using DiGiCo Quantum 338. Satyam Rajvanshi from
the Hi-Tech Audio team was constantly with me and introduced me to the new features on this console,
and I thoroughly enjoyed it. I can easily say that this is the most effective, stylish and high on
quality console that I have ever used. The nodal processing was very good. I used spice rack
(Chilli6) on the master and mustard processing optical compressor, which ensured that the vocals
were very smooth and clear. Overall, I'm super impressed."
The console was once again deployed for a high-profile private event in Mumbai that hosted an
exhilarating live performance by one of India's most noted bands - A Class Apart. Farhad Daruwalla -
one of the country's leading mix engineers and designated FOH in charge of A Class Apart - shares
his experience of working on the DiGiCo Quantum 338 system as he asserts, "DiGiCo consoles have been
at the top of my preferred console list for the past 12 years. Their SD series consoles were a game
changer since day one and now they have taken it a step further with the new generation Quantum
desks. Easy to use, flexible workflow, roadworthy reliability, great sounding head amps combined
with their premium Mustard and Spice Racks negates the use of any external hardware or plugins for
most of my artists. They have noted user feedback about the SD desks and incorporated the changes in
these stellar sounding Quantum consoles. A big thanks to PP Sound Lights Productions for the
opportunity to use the first Quantum 338 in India and for the flawless techs provided for my
artist".