Interview With David Bradshaw

Jands Introduce New Staff Member to the Technical Resource Group
Jands are pleased to announce the appointment of David Bradshaw as the Technical Representative & Training Officer within the Technical Resource Group (TRG) department. Previously working for Harman Pro distributor, Sound Technology, in the UK, Bradshaw moves down under to join the Jands team.

Bradshaw has worked in the audio industry for over 15 years and brings with him a wide range of skills and familiarity of professional audio products.

In this interview we get to know David a little better and discover how his journey in the audio industry began.

What motivates a Scotsman to move his family to Australia?

Better opportunities for our little boy in the future. He is only 22 months now, so essentially he is the driving force behind the move.

How did you end up at Jands?
My wife and I had been looking for an opportunity to come to Australia for some time. I started searching for companies who may employ someone who performed a similar role to what I did back in the UK and Jands were on the top of that list. I happened to find a suitable role advertised on the Jands website which I applied for and successfully landed!

How did you get into the audio industry?
Long story! A long time ago when I was about 15 or 16 I used to go to this night club in my home town, which is just outside Glasgow, and we would go there to an under 18’s disco after school on a Monday night. It was here that I became quite interested in DJing. I made friends with the DJ and he let me have a go from time to time which I thought was quite cool as not many others did this at the time (it was before everybody wanted to be a DJ!). I continued to DJ whilst I was at school and then through college. During that time I purchased my own gear for mobile work and also did the odd night club event.

As I grew up I worked in big night clubs and ended up doing about 4 or 5 nights per week until 2002. Throughout the day I worked for various other companies. After college, I worked as a Field Engineer in printing and computers. Because I was an Engineer by trade in the day time, and a DJ at night, I ended up being able to fix things that would break in the clubs. So I started doing a little bit of that and then it snowballed. The owner of one of the night clubs told me he was building a new night club and asked if I would be interested in contracting the fit out for it. I said yes, I put together a price for it, and I got myself a business partner. We started a little business contracting and fitting out bars, night clubs, restaurants, and shops in the day time, and I continued to moonlight at night!

Unfortunately our Glasgow business only lasted a few years. However a friend of mine, who worked for Ministry of Sound (MoS) in London, hired me to DJ on an MoS tour. From this I ended up getting hired by MoS to do some freelance production engineering on these tour shows. This then led to becoming a full-time Production Manager for MoS tour gigs. Due to their successful expansion overseas, MoS then amalgamated their technical resources and developed an internal production department which I led.

I worked for the Ministry of Sound for about 7.5 years, doing designs for their venues in Bangkok, Taipei, Singapore, Delhi and in the UK. After MoS I worked for the Harman Pro distributor in the UK and have now landed here!

What have been the highlights and lowlights of your audio career?
A fairly big highlight was playing Ministry of Sound in London on a Saturday night with a thousand people in the room which is pretty unique!

There have been plenty of lowlights. My business failing in Glasgow is one of them. It went well for a few years, but it could have been ok if we didn’t supply some things to unscrupulous clients who didn’t want to pay for them.

What do you like about the audio industry in general?
I don’t know! I don’t think anybody plans to get into this kind of business, people sort of fall into it by accident. If you wanted to make lots of money you would probably look into a different industry! 

I think people get into this because they quite like it for one reason or another, but it has some parity with what they have done in the past. I think it’s very interesting, particularly now for me, because I’ve landed here pretty far away from where I come from with people who possibly struggle to understand what I’m saying a little bit (due to my accent!). I don’t know if that makes me interesting in the Australian market, I possibly will be remembered a little bit more than if I were an Australian guy!

What is your role at Jands?
I am working in the Technical Resources Group (TRG). My role involves visiting consultants and key installation contractors, and providing technical services (i.e. product training and engineering support) to clients.

How does Australia and Jands compare to the UK?
I think this is a great opportunity as Australia is a great country, it’s a growing country and its best years are most definitely ahead of it. There are certainly more opportunities here now, than pretty much anywhere in the rest of the world I would think.

Where I worked in the UK the brands led the business and we essentially did what we were told to do. Here it doesn’t feel like that, which is a great situation to be in.

In the UK I fulfilled a very similar position as I’m doing here, but it would be on top of everything else i.e. frontline product support, logistics, system design and system engineering, and visiting consultants and preparing quotes. The Jands TRG department is streamlined and consequently I can focus on my job. It’s a far more organised way to run a business.

How do you feel about the products Jands represents?
From a company perspective, Jands have got a great portfolio of brands. But what’s unique about Jands is that they are a manufacturer, as well as being a distributor, which is a great thing to be able to do.

I’m also quite looking forward to getting involved with some brands that I have not worked with before.

What is your favourite product at the moment?
The most interesting product for me right now, from a perspective of price and performance, is probably the BSS BLU-100. Other interesting products – Soundcraft Vi1 is a great desk; and JBL’s new VT4886 line array is a real eye opener when you get it powered up, really surprising for such a small box.

What do you enjoy doing in your spare time outside of Jands?
I don’t think I have any spare time anymore, when you have a little boy you wonder what you did with all of your time! We used to be really busy every weekend before he came along.

I used to take flying lessons on a light airplane back in England but I haven’t done that for a while now. I hope I get the opportunity to do that here once we settle down.