Pristine Moods Productions’ recent growth has seen the company appoint Thabang Makofane as an audio engineer and Gareth Chambers as lighting designer. Pristine Moods have also invested in a DiGiCo S31 and a dot2 console from South African distributor, DWR.
Lior Manelis, the owner of Pristine Moods Productions, has noticed the change. Manelis started providing entertainment at corporate events and before long clients started asking him to assist with additional lighting, projectors, stage decks, and the likes. It wasn’t long before he gave the corporate market his full attention.
“The game starts getting expensive, but your clients observe the difference,” said Manelis. “3 years ago, to date, I had 4 moving heads, 2 stage decks, 4 truss pieces, a couple of homemade speakers and was working out of my double garage at home. I had 2 staff members, Cliff and Patrick. Today we are sitting in a 660sqm warehouse with a staff complement of 11.”
Investing in a DiGiGo S31 and the dot2 has been a long time coming. “These kinds of steps are daunting,” he admitted. “But as your calibre of gear increases, so does your marketing capabilities, enabling you to work on bigger events.”
Gareth Chambers will run the dot2. “The day we took delivery of the dot2, just before Gareth officially joined us, he sent me a WhatsApp message asking if he could come and play. He sat here for 4 or 5 hours, training the crew. He is extremely positive and very excited.” Gareth was previously employed by DWR Distribution in the role of training and support, and his expertise will enable him to operate the console and share his knowledge with his peers.
The DiGiCo S31 will be in the capable hands of Thabang Makofane. “Thabang is extremely talented and influenced me in going the DiGiCo route. We chose this specific console because of its capabilities and versatility. Being on most technical riders plays a huge part.”
Duncan Riley of DWR Distribution says it’s a natural progression for companies to start off buying lesser-known equipment and then to evolve to invest in internationally recognized brand names that can be relied on, and that offer a ten to fifteen-year return on investment. “Both DiGiCo and MA Lighting are in the business of giving end-users longevity with products that won’t be constantly upgraded or replaced,” said Riley.
“The biggest perk of DiGiCo is the capability of extending the possibilities of the desk by just a software update. DiGiCo offers clients features like extra input and output channels, more effects units further expanding the DSP’s and gaining new functions like dynamic EQ’s and Multiband Compressors, new software simply opens the taps as it was as the hardware has the processing built in for future expansion thus guaranteeing the return on investment for the end user.
“MA is very similar, and users are guaranteed that they’ll have a functional and relevant console for many years to come. It’s not a matter of bringing out a new version after a new version of hardware like the mobile phone market faces .”
Along with great gear, the advantage of Pristine Moods is the personal touch they deliver at productions. “What we are finding is that smaller companies are often able to invest personal time, service and develop a relationship with their client,” said Duncan. “It’s great to watch companies like Pristine Moods grow, to see where they are today and to have an inkling of what they will be in the next few years. A big thanks to Lior for his support.”
