GC Pro: Guitar Center Professional Division: February 2012

Friday, February 10, 2012

Islamic Center of Hernando County, Florida

The interior of the Islamic Center of Hernando County, in Spring Hill, Florida. The Center recently upgraded its audio system with Bose Panaray® units and other components sourced through GC Pro.

— Bose Panaray® MA12EX system and supporting technologies, as well as an acoustical treatment that cut the reverb time in the mosque in half and restored speech intelligibility during worship, show how GC Pro is the single best resource for any HOW AV need —

— Project was completed through GC Pro’s Affiliate program, with the help of program member Christian Sound Installations of Valrico, Florida —

WESTLAKE VILLAGE, CA, February 8, 2012 — Like many houses of worship, the Islamic Center of Hernando County, in Spring Hill, Florida, had some specific audio issues: the main hall of the mosque had a reverb time measured at six seconds, enough to reduce speech intelligibility to near zero, and a second prayer room reserved for women had no separate sound system at all and had to rely solely on reflected sound from the men’s prayer hall for prayer leadership. A visit to Guitar Center Professional (GC Pro), the outside sales division of Guitar Center that focuses on the needs of professional users, solved all of the space’s audio problems, thanks to GC Pro’s breadth of technology solutions and the depth of its Affiliate program, which lets GC Pro find exactly the right fit for system installation.

Last August, Christian Sound Installations of Valrico, Florida, one of the certified Affiliates in the highly successful national GC Pro Affiliate Program, installed a Bose Panaray® MA12EX full-range modular line array with four speakers in the men’s prayer hall, controlled via a Bose Control Space ESP-88 processor and powered by a Crown XTi 4002 amplifier. In addition, the women’s prayer hall now has its own sound system consisting of Bose FreeSpace® DS 100SE loudspeakers powered by a Crown XTi 1002 amplifier. A TASCAM CD-200i CD player with integrated Apple iPod® dock serves as the music source for both systems. When praying, the Imam’s lavaliere microphone was often muffled when his head bowed to the floor; a Countryman E6 wireless headset supplied by GC Pro solved that issue. And the main hall’s reverberation problem was eliminated with the application of acoustical absorption materials to the walls, cutting the six-second reverb time down to three seconds.

Mick Hall, Account Manager at the Tampa Bay-area GC Pro location, says that what they were able to accomplish cost-effectively at the Islamic Center of Hernando County is an example of how keenly GC Pro can help houses of worship solve their AV concerns. The solutions for any AV problem are within GC Pro’s extensive inventory, and ways to implement those solutions are at the ready through the Affiliates program, which allows customers to access the talents and skills of certified acoustical designers, acoustical architects, systems integration companies and other technical services organizations nationwide.

“We have all of the resources necessary to handle any situation, large or small, from renovation to ground up construction,” says Hall. “We have the product and systems solutions and we have the talent, in the form of people like Paul Garner, Owner of Christian Sound Installations, who can integrate those solutions in the best ways possible. That’s what GC Pro has to offer.”

Hall elaborated on how the system was put together: “Traditional mosques are very beautiful and also very live acoustic spaces,” he stated. “The client wanted a system that was small and unobtrusive to the room décor but powerful enough to be an effective upgrade of the existing ceiling speaker system. The main request of the sound system was that it be capable of substantially amplifying the sound in the space while still remaining open and natural enough to give the impression of no PA. It was also a requirement that the system be capable of extremely wide horizontal and controlled vertical dispersion to minimize reflections and artifacts caused by excessive spill on architectural details. Finally, the complete control for the system needed to be as compact and user friendly as possible. The system with Bose MA12EX Panaray speakers in the main room and DS100SE speakers in the anteroom along with the ESP-88 processor and CC-64 remote was an eloquent and high quality solution to solve all of the integration and performance criteria.”

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

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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.

GC Pro Helps Pyramind

A student at Pyramind tracks in the studio. Pyramind excels as both a commercial audio production/post-production facility and as an educational institution with the help of GC Pro as a key vendor partner.

— Pyramind produces professional commercial audio for clients and also offers professional music production training, and GC Pro has been able to provide technology support for both sides of Pyramind’s services —

WESTLAKE VILLAGE, CA, January 16, 2012 — Pyramind occupies a special space in professional audio: As a commercial audio production and post production facility, it excels as a leading supplier of audio for the video game industry. As such, they are noted for their work with major studios such as Sega, 2K Games, LucasArts, Sony PlayStation and others, producing the scores, voice over and sound design for blockbuster games like Halo: Combat Evolved Anniversary, Kinect Disneyland Adventures, Infamous 2, Iron Man 2, Bioshock 2, the God of War trilogy and dozens more. Pyramind is also a leader in the growing field of pro audio education. Award-winning educators including YouTube Guru David Earl (sfLogicNinja), CSI composer and sound designer Brian Trifon (Trifonic), and G.A.N.G award-winning engineer Steve Heithecker teach Pyramind’s signature “Core” program (devised by Chief Academic Officer Matt Donner), emphasizing the three key disciplines for individual success in any creative field: creativity, technology, and business acumen. Guitar Center Professional (GC Pro), the outside sales division of Guitar Center that focuses on the needs of professional users, has been a vendor partner with Pyramind for over a decade, providing equipment, expertise and services that address Pyramind’s needs in all of their ventures. These include the sales of products such as Genelec Active Monitors, Avid ProTools systems, mic pre’s from Focusrite and Avalon and high-end microphones from over a dozen manufacturers, as well as being an educational partner, providing discounts for Pyramind students and staff and offering advice for students on an array of pro audio topics.

“We’ve been working with [GC Pro Account Manager] Vince Bedford for ten-plus years now, and the service has just been great,” exclaims CEO Greg Gordon. “We’ve had a longstanding relationship with Vince and GC Pro, and they have helped us across the board, from the biggest consoles to the smallest items. We really appreciate how responsive they’ve been in terms of helping out students, not only with educational discounts on equipment but also with advice and input on so many subjects. They treat everyone like a professional, and that means a lot to our students.”

Bedford says the feeling is mutual: “Pyramind is one of the finest music production schools in the country – every teacher there is an author or is a professional producer/engineer working in the field. We’re glad that a school of that caliber feels good enough about GC Pro to send all of their students to us. We are able to provide students with the right tools essential for their education, as well as high-quality information that reinforces their training at Pyramind. We’ve enjoyed supporting them in the past and look forward to continuing to do so in the future.”

Matt Donner, Pyramind’s Chief Academic Officer, says that GC Pro has been a long-time supplier to both of the company’s business lines. “On the training side, we recommend specific computers, keyboards and software – including Pro Tools, Reason, Live and Logic- and our students get great advice along with competitive pricing on all of that from GC Pro,” he says. “On the studio side, GC Pro has provided us with just about everything, including several last-minute needs that GC Pro solved immediately for a vocal session for the Halo soundtrack. Our relationship with them is very strong because they have what we need and they’re there when we need them. Most importantly for the students, they get solid advice, great pricing and solid customer service. In one purchase with GC Pro, they transition from being a hobbyist to becoming a professional. It’s worth its weight in gold.”

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

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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.

Valparaiso Memorial Opera House

The stage at the Memorial Opera House in Valparaiso, Indiana. A recent renovation saw the theater upgraded with cutting-edge audio and wireless technology provided by GC Pro for systems designed, specified and installed by GC Pro Affiliate Program member 101 Event Productions of Dyer, Indiana.

— New systems and technology provided by GC Pro and designed/specified/installed by GC Pro Affiliate Program member 101 Event Productions will help make the landmark theater building more competitive as an entertainment venue, attracting music, theater and other artists —

WESTLAKE VILLAGE, CA, January 11, 2012 — The renovators of the landmark Memorial Opera House in Valparaiso, Indiana, made sure to preserve the integrity of the historic architectural design details during the recently completed restoration. Inside, however, the 364-seat theater has cutting-edge technology, provided by Guitar Center Professional (GC Pro), the outside sales division of Guitar Center that focuses on the needs of professional users. This upgrade will allow the theater to attract music, theater and other artists that will culturally enrich the entire region. The new systems were designed, specified and installed by 101 Event Productions of Dyer, Indiana, one of the approved vendors in GC Pro’s acclaimed Affiliates Program, which allows GC Pro to offer complete turnkey service nationally, including technology and product advice, design services and installation/integration.

Built in 1893 by the local chapter of the Grand Army of the Republic, the Memorial Opera House is a living memorial to the county's Civil War Veterans. With the recent upgrade, it’s now a state-of-the-art performance facility, with technology and products provided by GC Pro including a JBL VRX932LAP line array PA system and JBL AL7115 subwoofers; a Yamaha M7-CL48 mixing console for Front-of-House that is also provided with a digital interface card for an Avid Pro Tools recording system running Pro Tools 9 software and a Lynx Aurora A-D converter; a 16-channel Yamaha LS932 console for monitor mixing; a ClearCom CP222/CM222 Tempest 2400 2.4GHz 2-channel communications system and ClearCom MA702 intercom system; a Listen Technologies LS8101 IR listening assist system with LR42 receivers; a BSW 360 DR600 Instant Replay 2 Soundfile Player; and 18 channels of Audio-Technica wireless, including 12 AEW-5111 systems from A-T’s Artist Elite® 5000 Series with PRO 92cW headset, and six ATW-3141b systems from A-T’s 3000 Series.

Michael Anton, Owner of 101 Event Productions and known as “Frenchy” to his entertainment and touring clients (including Mary J. Blige, Reba McIntyre and Paul McCartney), says that the opera house presented some significant challenges, including the fact that it was never designed for multi-use productions. “It had been designed as an open hall for theater, but they had plans to use it for everything from rock concerts to comedy shows and most recently they will also use it as an indie film house, so there were definitely structural issues,” he explains. “It needed one sound system that could cover all of that.” Anton says GC Pro made all the difference in achieving that goal. The JBL VRX system was a good solution but costly; however, GC Pro found a way to make it work within the limited budget that Anton had to work with initially. “They know their stuff and were able to make things happen so that we never had to compromise,” he says. “That worked so well that they could see that better equipment would help them sell more tickets and they increased the budget enough for us to go digital with the console and the snake. Everyone who has performed there since wants to come back.”

“GC Pro and 101 Event Productions hit a home run for the Valparaiso Opera House,” says Ryan Nigh, Account Manager at the GC Pro office in Hobart, Indiana. “GC Pro’s knowledge and inventory, combined with 101 Event Productions’ design and installation expertise, offered a turnkey level of service and that made all the difference. Not only were we able to together suggest and source all of the equipment, but we could also make sure that it all worked together, creating the kind of venue they wanted, one that could compete with venues in larger cities – nothing compares within the state. Major music artists can walk right in, and the facility is ready to go. That’s the power of what GC Pro can bring to any performing venue -- service that takes you from start to finish, all done right.”

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

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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.

Perry Hall Family Worship Center

The new Perry Hall Family Worship Center, which features A/V and lighting gear from GC Pro.

WESTLAKE VILLAGE, CA, January 9, 2012 — The Perry Hall Family Worship Center has finally found a home of its own. After years of saving up contributions as they worshiped from the basement of Pastor Dominic Correlli, Sr., they were able in 2010 to begin construction on their new facility in the suburban Baltimore area. And thanks to the ability of their technology partner in the project, Guitar Center Professional (GC Pro), the outside sales division of Guitar Center that focuses on the needs of professional users, the Perry Hall Family Worship Center was able to realize all of their audio, video and lighting hopes on budget and on schedule.

The church’s new sound system consists of eight QSC WL2082-i dual ILA speaker cabinets and a pair of QSC WL118-sw subwoofers, controlled through a QSC SC28 2X8 System Controller. Other key pieces of equipment include QSC PLX3602 and PLX3102 power amplifiers, an Aviom A-16 input module, lighting systems from American DJ including PAR 64 fixtures and Elation DMX 4-channel dimmer rack, BenQ DLP projector and DaLite 108 X 144-inch projection screen. All of the systems were designed and sourced by GC Pro, and the installation and systems integration was accomplished by KoKo Brothers, one of the certified members in GC Pro’s highly successful national Affiliates program.

The Perry Hall Family Worship Center celebrated its tenth anniversary as a congregation in 2011. The church is a part of the Dove Christian Fellowship International network, which has over 80 churches internationally. Mitchell Shaivitz, the GC Pro Account Manager who serves the Mid-Atlantic region’s professional audio and video needs from GC Pro’s Baltimore location, says the project needed GC Pro’s expertise and guidance. “The design called for a very high ceiling, so we’d need a PA system that had good throw characteristics as well as good dispersion, and that could provide that kind of performance at a reasonable cost,” he says. “The QSC ILA system was a great choice for that. And the church leaders said that they wanted the church to be able to keep up with its growth, so we made sure to design in the ability to expand the systems as needed, such as the choice of the Aviom A16 input module, which we can add additional I/Os to as necessary in the future. The entire design was intended to meet the church’s budget while giving them the best possible technology for their money and the ability to let the systems also meet any future requirements as they grew.”

John Correlli, Pastor Dominic Correlli’s son and the church’s Director of Multimedia, says that the experience of working with GC Pro was exceptional. “We gave them a budget and they worked closely with us,” Correlli recalls, noting that when the original proposal called for several lighting fixtures that would push the costs over budget, GC Pro was able to find substitute products that lowered the costs substantially yet offered similar performance. “They were able to save us as much as $17,000 just in lighting,” he estimates. Correlli is equally impressed with the performance of GC Pro’s Affiliate Program partner. “They often worked in the evenings, after the construction crews had finished, and one particular night, because it was the last time they would have access to the lift, they worked straight through from 8 p.m. to 5 a.m.,” he remembers. “Everyone we worked with at GC Pro showed that kind of dedication to us as customers. I’d recommend them to everyone. And in fact, I already have.”

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

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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.

Thursday, February 9, 2012

GC Pro's Pick Hits of NAMM 2012

Many of us at GC Pro are long-term veterans of the NAMM Show, and every year, we sift through literally hundreds of new products to see what will be the best solutions for our customers. The 2012 NAMM Show was one of the best in recent memory in terms of the vibrancy of the pro audio industry, as well as the smart thinking behind many of the new product introductions.

Here are some of our picks for the hottest products at NAMM 2012! As always, for more information on these or many other brands, your GC Pro representative is happy to give you more details, or to arrange for a demo. Contact us now!

Universal Audio Apollo

Universal Audio is a brand that is legendary in our industry, and has been a long favorite for GC Pro to recommend to our most discerning customers. If there was one pro audio product that got everyone talking at NAMM 2012, it was their new Apollo high-resolution audio interface with realtime UAD processing. It’s a 24-bit/192kHz interface between your music and your Mac or PC, and offers a true “no compromise” approach to audio quality. The Apollo has premium mic preamps and top-end converters, but that’s just the start. Available with either DUO Core or QUAD Core processing onboard, its onboard DSP acceleration allows for recording and mixing through UAD Powered Plug-Ins — with as low as sub-2ms latency — so that producers can quickly monitor, audition, and “print” audio using classic analog emulations from Ampex, Lexicon, Manley, Neve, Roland, SSL, Studer, and more. As if that weren’t enough, Apollo offers compatibility with Intel’s new Thunderbolt technology, as found on the newest iMacs, MacBook Pros, MacBook Airs, and next-generation PCs. It seems like the UA Apollo is exactly what many commercial and project studios have been waiting for. Contact GC Pro to arrange for a demo! 

sE Electronics sE2200a II Mic

While many great microphone come with a great big price tag, we saw at least one new mic at NAMM that was both impressive and affordable. As the latest rendition of sE’s 2200 series, the 2200a II adds multi-pattern functionality (cardioid, figure 8, and omni are selectable). Like its predecessor, the sE2200a II uses a hand-crafted, 1" gold sputtered diaphragm. The mic also has a new look, with a black rubber paint finish which is both stylish and practical, helping to damp chassis resonance which many other low-cost mics suffer from. Studios of all kinds will benefit from adding one of these to their mic locker... and at this price, why not get two and have a stereo pair?

Arturia MiniBrute

Just... wow. While the abilities to emulate the sought-after sound of analog synthesizers with digital synths and plug-ins has been done very well over the years, nothing compares to the brute force of the real thing. Enter the Arturia MiniBrute, a little keyboard with a sound so huge, it might actually scare you (and was a huge hit at NAMM, as you’d imagine). It offers a pure analog signal path and a host of unique features, like a a VCO wave mixer, the classic Steiner-Parker multimode filter, as well as numerous analog innovations. But unlike analog synths of yesteryear, the MiniBrute also offers complete MIDI, CV and USB connectivity. Whether you need a small synthesizer to sit next to your computer keyboard, or an analog beast to go on a stand with your bigger synths, Arturia’s MiniBrute has a cool factor that can’t be beat.

Moog The Ladder

For those of us lucky enough to have spent quality time with a Moog analog synth, we’re already aware of how powerful the onboard filtering is... it’s an essential aspect of the classic Moog sound! Well, with Moog’s The Ladder, you can take that classic filtering and add it to your 500 Series rack! Introduced at NAMM as the first 500 Series module from Moog, the Ladder is a powerful and fantastic sound sculpting tool that allows for creative and unique sound shifting and shaping. All analog Low Pass and High Pass filter... Cutoff knob to add vibe, warmth or tonal adjustment... variable Attack and Release controls... Resonance... even hard wire bypass! No matter what signal you run through the Ladder, you get amazing creative control. We love it.

Casio XW-P1

At NAMM, we found ourselves a bit surprised at a cool and affordable keyboard from an old and trusted name in synthesizers: Casio! It’s an excellent performance synthesizer for gigging musicians, but also a great choice for churches, studios, and songwriting rooms. First, the XW-P1 has an onboard library of all the sounds you’ll need for most occasions. Second, you get control with tools like a full drawbar section for dialing in the perfect organ sounds. Third, it has an onboard step sequencer and programmable arpeggiator. This is a serious performance keyboard that’s way more affordable than you’d think based on its abilities. We give it two thumbs-up for both features and value.

Presonus Qmix

One product category that really jumped out at NAMM 2012 was a batch of new software apps built to integrate Apple iOS devices with audio products. The one that really blew us away was PreSonus QMix software. This free app allows up to ten musicians to simultaneously control their StudioLive monitor mixes with their iPhone or iPod touch. The mobile devices network wirelessly with a Mac or PC, enabling QMix to remote-control Presonus’ Virtual StudioLive software, which in turn controls one or more FireWire-connected StudioLive mixers. In other words, it’s a personal monitoring system you can run from your iPhone. Crazy! Want more kick drum in your personal mix? Dial it in. More keyboard? Dial it in. More you? Crank it up from your own position onstage. How great is that?

TC-Helicon VoiceLive Play GTX

When we GC Pro people were young rock-and-rollers, it was a difficult task to get great vocal and guitar effects at the same time without a lot of help from our friends (or our techs, when we had them). Today, with new tools like the TC-Helicon Introduces VoiceLive Play GTX, singing guitarists’ lives just got easier than ever before. The footpedal had our jaws dropping at NAMM. It starts with pro-quality TC-Helicon effects and state-of-the-art harmony processing, but that’s just half the story. It’s also packed with top-of-the-line guitar effects from TC Electronic. The end result is having a dedicated vocal producer and an experienced guitar tech sitting next to you at your gig! There are more than 200 amazing presets, covering both vocal and guitar effects, which can be browsed either by genre or effect type. But it doesn’t end there; you can download more presets every month online. The guitar effects run the gamut from pristine acoustic to raucous, distorted guitar tones and lots in between. TC Electronic reverbs, delays, modulation as well as distortion effects, putting the guitar in the zone for full vocal, guitar and looping production all in one footpedal. VoiceLive Play GTX even accepts input from MP3 players and computers via an AUX In connector or USB. Its other great functions include a Vocal Cancel feature that reduces the lead vocal level in a recording, so users can put themselves directly in their favorite artist’s shoes. Finally, VoiceLive Play GTX can even listen to the recording and generate harmonies based on the chord progressions in the track. It can loop both voice and guitar, has built in RoomSense microphones that can listen to music nearby, automatically determining which key to set for Harmony and HardTune effects. Seriously, this will take your guitar/vocal performance into a level you never dreamed possible.

Sennheiser XS Wireless Series

If you thought having a wireless microphone system in your live sound facility or house or worship was too expensive or too hard to setup, you’ll be happy to know that Sennheiser introduced their new XS Series that solves both of those problems. Sennheiser has put together specific packages for presentations (XSW 12), for vocals (XSW 35 and XSW 65 ), for instruments (XSW 72), or for headset miking (XSW 52). These all-in-one packages include the high-quality Sennheiser components you need for every live sound miking application from churches to clubs to conference rooms and more. Setting up the XS Wireless systems couldn’t be easier... they automatically search for their available frequencies with a single touch.

Remember, your local GC Pro representative can give you more information on any of the new items from NAMM 2012, or whatever you've been wanting to get into your recording or live sound system. We have over 60 account managers and sales reps across the USA who can answer your questions or even arrange for on-site demos... contact us today!

About GC Pro

Guitar Center Professional (GC Pro) 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 gcpro.com.