Thursday, August 30, 2012

424 POST Acquires Meyer Speaker System

Pictured L-R: Derek Snyder, GC Pro Regional Manager; and 424 POST principals and co-founders Kami Asgar and Sean McCormack. Asgar and McCormack have been relying on GC Pro for gear and unparalleled service since their company's inception.


— GC Pro once again guides leading Hollywood post facility as it chooses critical new monitoring system for its newest sound mixing stage and provides reliable system installation through its renowned Affiliate program —

WESTLAKE VILLAGE, CA, August 30, 2012 — Academy Award-nominated 424 POST is an all-digital post-production sound facility based in Culver City, California, committed to meeting the needs of the entire range of postproduction sound projects, from sound design to editorial, for both big-studio projects and independent features. Most recently, 424 POST handled the sound for big-screen dance-musical feature Perfect Pitch and for Dwayne Johnson’s forthcoming action thriller Snitch, a pair of films that bookend the wide variety of audio necessary in Hollywood feature work, from full-range music scores to high-SPL action sound effects. 424 POST, which celebrated its tenth anniversary this year, handles all of it effortlessly, thanks in part to a new Meyer monitoring system sourced through Guitar Center Professional (GC Pro), the outside sales division of Guitar Center that focuses on the needs of professional users, with whom 424 POST has a long-standing and successful relationship. In addition, the new Meyer Acheron 80 Screen Channel loudspeaker system that is now the centerpiece of 424 POST’s newest sound mixing stage was installed by Horacio Malvicino of the Malvicino Design Group, one of GC Pro’s approved vendors in its hugely successful Affiliate program.

The new Meyer Acheron 80 monitoring system was part of a larger equipment and technology purchase by 424 POST through GC Pro that also included a number of Apple Mac computers and Avid Pro Tools components also integrated by GC Pro. This was done in part to support Hollywood’s ever-growing fascination with multichannel film audio, from the 7.1 systems that 424 POST President and Partner Kami Asgar says have become the basic configuration, on up to the newly introduced multi-array Dolby ATMOS system, which will allow up to 128 discrete sound tracks and up to 64 unique speaker feeds, expected to be installed in 1,000 cinema locations next year. “Film sound is changing quickly and we knew we needed an advanced monitoring system for the new mix stage,” he says. “7.1 is now almost entry level,” Sean McCormack, Asgar’s Partner and 424 POST CEO, agrees. “Hollywood is looking for immersive sound, and our new Meyer system provides the kind of monitoring that addresses that.”

GC Pro excels at helping Hollywood professionals like 424 POST get what they need to be competitive. McCormack says he and Asgar and Partner/Vice President Tim Tuchrello spent considerable time reviewing various monitoring options, even as they constructed the critical front wall of the new theater, which would have to accommodate the behind-screen L-C-R monitors. “Bill Learned at GC Pro in Los Angeles made us aware of the Meyer Acheron monitors,” says McCormack. “They helped us further research them and provided all the additional information we required.” Asgar further notes that these particular monitors weren’t a regular product through GC Pro, but that the store’s staffers went out of their way to make them available. “One of the things that’s great about GC Pro is that with them, it’s not about selling the customer what they have – it’s about determining what the customer really needs, regardless of whether it’s on their shelves, and then getting it for them.” It’s also about making sure products are installed correctly and on schedule. McCormack says that the Malvicino Design Group worked closely with technicians from Meyer Sound and 424 POST to make sure that the new monitors were put in on time and performed to factory specs. “It would have been simpler for GC Pro to simply point us to one of their regular off-the-shelf products, but that’s not how they work,” he says. “As customers, they put us first, and that’s why we go to them first, and always will.”

For more information, please visit www.gcpro.com.

===

About Guitar Center Professional/Guitar Center
Founded in 2001, Guitar Center Professional is the outside sales division of Guitar Center that focuses on the needs of professional users. Its clientele includes recording studios, audio engineers, producers, recording and touring musicians, live sound venues, post production facilities and more. Emphasizing extraordinary individualized service via local account managers, GC Pro offers expert consultation and a comprehensive selection of the world’s finest equipment for music and audio professionals. More information on GC Pro can be found by visiting www.gcpro.com.

Wednesday, August 29, 2012

GC Pro and Holy Trinity Parish Church

The sanctuary of Holy Trinity Parish Church, in Wellsville, Ohio, outfitted with upgraded sound systems by regional service provider Koko Brothers Entertainment, a member of GC Pro’s acclaimed Affiliate Program.

— GC Pro provides turnkey solution for Holy Trinity Church and calls upon the services of Affiliate Program member Koko Brothers Entertainment to provide the AV systems installation and integration —

WESTLAKE VILLAGE, CA, August 29, 2012 — The AV systems at Holy Trinity Parish Church, in Wellsville, Ohio, needed an upgrade, and Guitar Center Professional (GC Pro), the outside sales division of Guitar Center that focuses on the needs of professional users, knew just what to do. Billy Walker, Senior Account Manager at GC Pro’s Northeast/Mid-Atlantic office in Wilmington, Delaware, working with regional service provider Koko Brothers Entertainment, outlined a plan to upgrade all of the church’s sound systems, as well as some of the audio and video systems at the affiliated St. Aloysius School. Koko Brothers is a member of GC Pro’s acclaimed Affiliate Program, which provides approved AV systems integrators as vendors for complex AV integration and installation projects.

The project was completed this summer and included systems and products such as the QSC AD-S282H-WH dual 8-inch 2-way speaker enclosure, Crown XTi 4002 power amplifiers, Shure wired and wireless microphones, a Countryman E6DW5l1SL E6 directional earset, BenQ MX717 3D-ready DLP projector, Da-lite matte white screen and PM2425 Pixmate monitor cart.

“It was really a tune-up and an upgrade, and it was a very smooth project that left their systems in a much better state,” says Walker. “The church’s sanctuary now has all-new speakers and amplifiers, and the intelligibility of the system has been greatly improved,” with new audio zones also added around the church’s interior. The school’s gymnasium and cafeteria also received new audio systems, and the BenQ / Dalite projection system is cart-mounted, making it available throughout the school for AV educational and instructional applications.

“Father Peter Haladej at the church had visited one of our local Guitar Center stores and when they realized that the customer needed design help and larger components, they sent them to GC Pro,” Walker explains. “We went in there with Koko Brothers Entertainment, evaluated their needs and created a plan that would give them the benefit of a proven installation vendor and access to GC Pro’s wide inventory and pricing. When you factor all of that in, GC Pro can’t be beat.”

Angelo Kokkinakos, Partner with his brother Lou Kokkinakos in Baltimore-based Koko Brothers Entertainment, which has done a number of projects at houses of worship, restaurants and retirement communities in partnership with GC Pro, says the church’s existing sound system wasn’t fulfilling its needs. “That’s really one of the great benefits for us and for clients in working with GC Pro,” he says. “We can take the time to really analyze what needs to be done to make a project fit the particular requirements of each location, and we have access, through GC Pro, to a much greater array of possible solutions. It’s never about one-size-fits-all; it’s always about what works best for each customer’s needs. And we were able to make a big difference in the sound at the church – when we came in, one of the biggest problems the church had that I found was a 12 dB drop in the back of the sanctuary. After the install it is less than a 3 dB drop.”

For more information, please visit www.gcpro.com.

===

About Guitar Center Professional/Guitar Center
Founded in 2001, Guitar Center Professional is the outside sales division of Guitar Center that focuses on the needs of professional users. Its clientele includes recording studios, audio engineers, producers, recording and touring musicians, live sound venues, post production facilities and more. Emphasizing extraordinary individualized service via local account managers, GC Pro offers expert consultation and a comprehensive selection of the world’s finest equipment for music and audio professionals. More information on GC Pro can be found by visiting www.gcpro.com.