Thursday, October 18, 2012

GC Pro Helps Braza Dancante Restaurant

— Unique perspective of Omnicoustics LLC Owner shows how GC Pro has become the
single most comprehensive resource for AV technology and its installation —

WESTLAKE VILLAGE, CA, October 19, 2012 — When Braza Dancante, an authentic Brazilian churrascaria presenting the finest Brazilian cuisine to guests in Allen, Texas, opened last year, its menu drew from traditional South Brazilian churrascarias (similar to steakhouses), but its sound, lighting and video systems called for the most up-to-date AV technology. The restaurant’s PA and distributed audio systems feature components from Bose Professional Systems Division, a truss system was loaded with Chauvet Professional lighting products for the music stage and wash mood lighting, and a Key Digital video distribution system was put in place for televisions and digital signage.

The entirety of the system was sourced by Guitar Center Professional (GC Pro), the outside sales division of Guitar Center that focuses on the needs of professional users, and the installation and systems integration was handled by Omnicoustics LLC, a member of GC Pro’s expanding Affiliate Program. The Braza Dancante project illustrates how GC Pro has become the premier resource for AV systems integration projects, and how its Affiliate Program has grown into a principal source of installation and related services.

“Working with GC Pro is the simplest, most straightforward way to get a project done and done right,” says Adrian Gamez, Owner of Omnicoustics, the two-year-old AV systems integrator that installed, among other systems, the following Bose Professional Systems products: ControlSpace® ESP-88 engineered sound processor, FreeSpace® DS 100SE Loudspeaker, Panaray® MA12EX Full-Range Modular Line Array and MB24 Modular Bass Loudspeaker at Braza Dancante. “Even though we faced some challenges on the project, working around the general contractor, we always had every piece of equipment and product we needed exactly on time, thanks to GC Pro.”

Gamez should know how well GC Pro services projects like these – prior to opening his integration company, Gamez worked for the same GC Pro office in the Dallas area that serviced the Braza Dancante project. “I know what GC Pro can accomplish because I worked there,” he says. “They can get just about any piece of equipment you can think of, from a $30,000 audio console to a $3 connector, and have it all there on time for the job. When I worked for GC Pro, we prided ourselves on how well we could service AV systems integrators. Today, as one of those integrators and as part of the GC Pro Affiliate Program, I can really appreciate how well they do that. They have a great workflow.”

Jeffery McDaniel, GC Pro Senior Account Manager, stated, “This was a great project to work on because we were able to work with the customer from the conceptual blueprint stages all the way through the construction and final installation stages of the project, and we were able to make sure everything was perfect for their needs. It was also a pleasure to work with one of our affiliates, Omnicoustics LLC, throughout all of these stages, resulting in a project that exceeded the customer’s expectations at every step of the way. This is what it’s all about.”

Gamez also appreciates the fact that the Affiliate Program has also helped his company grow, allowing him to bid on and spec more projects than he could have on his own. “I’ve been on both sides of the fence with GC Pro – selling products and now buying them,” he says. “And from that perspective you can really see how good GC Pro is at what they do.”

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 Extends Tech Support Group to Nashville

— GC Pro continues to expand this acclaimed service with the addition of technical support personnel in Nashville, which joins GC Pro’s location in Hollywood to offer access to complex systems design, installation and integration services —

— The initiative will also be fully integrated with GC Pro’s acclaimed Affiliate Services Program to create a truly comprehensive turnkey system solution —

WESTLAKE VILLAGE, CA, October 22, 2012 — As part of its continuing effort to add useful and valuable services and products to its client offerings, Guitar Center Professional (GC Pro), the outside sales division of Guitar Center that focuses on the needs of professional users, today announced the extension of its successful new Technical Support Group initiative to the Nashville professional audio market. The program, which provides a number of technical support services, including customized Macintosh®-based audio systems solutions for clients in all of the market sectors it serves (recording studios, post production facilities and installed A/V), will now benefit Nashville’s music recording and production community. The Technical Support Group was initially launched in May 2011 at GC Pro’s Hollywood, California location. Additional personnel for the Technical Support Group are planned for other GC Pro locations in the U.S. in the future.

In the newly opened Nashville location, GC Pro Technical Services Technician Frantz Verna says that key services have already been provided for a range of professional clients there, such as loading and authorizing customers’ plug-in packages and integrating key applications including AVID’s Pro Tools® HD systems and others, and designing and building Mac-based audio systems equipped to the customers’ specifications for hard drives, video cards, RAM and other parameters. Such clients include producer/drummer Mike Marsh of the band Dashboard Confessional, legendary vocalist/composer/actress Bonnie Bramlett and Sound Emporium Recording Studios.

Verna says that many of these tasks, such as loading and authorizing software, are time- and labor-intensive, and pull music professionals away from their real work. “Musicians in Nashville definitely have better things to do with their time,” he says. “The advantage we bring to them, that they cannot get at a computer store, is that GC Pro understands how to optimize and maximize computer hardware, software and peripherals for music applications and integrate computers with their outboard equipment. We know how a computer best fits into a professional audio system. We’re able to give our clients a computer that’s ready to plug and play, which is exactly what they want and what no computer store could ever offer.” And all systems from the Technical Support Group will also be available for integration by members of GC Pro’s acclaimed Affiliate Services Program, which offers the services of certified studio designers, acousticians, systems integrators and other technical services to all GC Pro customers. No other professional audio retailer can offer such a comprehensive package of high-end products and programs.

“We are proud to expand our Technical Support Group endeavors to the rich market of Nashville,” stated Rick Plushner, GC Pro Vice President. “Nashville’s music community is growing larger and larger every day, and with such a large concentration of artists, players, composers, producers, engineers and post-production professionals, it is the type of market that can clearly benefit from the services of our Technical Support Group.”

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.

Wednesday, October 17, 2012

Santa Monica Place Mall Gets Top-Flight Sound

Santa Monica Place’s new stage and extensive sound system and lighting truss, all supplied by GC Pro.

— Upscale mall adds live music and event capability with technology supplied by GC Pro —

WESTLAKE VILLAGE, CA, October 17, 2012 — The Santa Monica Place has the stores, the views, the food and the fresh, open-air design – a shopping and dining destination that’s just right for this iconic beach city. Included are a custom-designed Bloomingdale’s made for the beach-chic lifestyle, a brand new Nordstrom, and a collection of A-list retail names, topped by a rooftop Dining Deck with six chef-driven restaurants and gorgeous views of the city, the mountains and the Pacific. And now Santa Monica Place has one more aspect that will draw and entertain shoppers: A new stage with an extensive sound system and lighting truss, all supplied by Guitar Center Professional (GC Pro), the outside sales division of Guitar Center that focuses on the needs of professional users.

GC Pro provided just about everything that Santa Monica Place needed to make its atrium into a performance venue. That included a JBL VRX line array system with 12 VRX932 enclosures and two MRX518S single-18 subwoofers and an MRX528S dual-18 subwoofer, four Crown XTi power amplifiers, a Soundcraft Vi1 console, AKG IVM4500 in-ear monitoring systems and dbx DriveRack® 4800 system processor. The Global Truss 24' x 16' stage and truss system has its own runway for fashion shows, with a Lex Pagoda power distribution system. A Telex BTR-24 multichannel radio communications system with eight headsets and beltpacks keeps everyone in the loop.

Santa Monica Place’s new Soundcraft Vi1 console, sourced through GC Pro.

The entire collection of equipment, including the stage, is designed to be stored when not in use and set up as needed. This, says GC Pro Account Manager Josh Dawkins, who specified the products and handled the sale, gives the mall’s operation management more flexibility and offers them the opportunity to recoup some of the capital cost of the equipment through rentals. “They can rent the space and the sound system as a package, which makes it very attractive to potential users,” he says.

Dawkins says that HARMAN’s sales representatives were very helpful in choosing which systems and products best fit the needs of the mall’s management. “That’s one of the things that GC Pro brings to customers like this,” says Dawkins. “We have such depth of resources throughout the pro audio, lighting, video and staging industries that we can count on being able to access all of the expertise that the brands we represent can offer. That’s something that a commercial client like Santa Monica Place really appreciated.”

Mike Schoen, National Accounts Sales Manager, Harman Professional Group, stated, “We are very pleased that GC Pro chose a wide selection of Harman Professional products for the Santa Monica Place Mall. Working closely with Josh Dawkins, we were able to put together a comprehensive package that suited the venue’s needs.”

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.

New State-of-the-Art Space at Hollywood Location

The control room at GC Pro’s new custom recording/listening demo facility at the Hollywood Guitar Center location on Sunset Boulevard, which also houses GC Pro’s home offices.

— New facility features a Neve Genesys console, Ocean Way monitors and more —

WESTLAKE VILLAGE, CA, October 11, 2012 — Guitar Center Professional (GC Pro), the outside sales division of Guitar Center that focuses on the needs of professional users, announces that it has opened a new custom recording/listening demo facility at the Hollywood Guitar Center location on Sunset Boulevard, which also houses GC Pro’s home offices. Open to the public, GC Pro affiliate partners and manufacturers alike, the facility is equipped with some of the most sought-after gear from GC Pro’s extensive inventory, including a Neve Genesys console and custom Ocean Way monitors tuned by creator Allen Sides himself – both products distributed in the U.S. exclusively by GC Pro. Additionally, the facility features studio monitors from companies like Genelec, ADAM, Focal and others – all high-end monitoring options – along with custom-designed photo-embedded acoustic treatment from Auralex (who also worked with GC Pro to tune the room), and racks and racks of outboard gear both vintage and new. The sound quality in the room is superb, and the gear provides the full range of options for today’s producer, engineer, artist or musician. This state-of-the-art recording/listening studio also features a signature look different from any other facility in the GC Pro organization.

“This new facility opens up a number of opportunities for GC Pro, for both demonstrating music and recording it,” stated GC Pro Vice President Rick Plushner. “The Hollywood location also houses our custom-built live sound stage, which is used to tape our acclaimed GC Sessions video series, and with the addition of the recording room, a fully-integrated facility is emerging – bridging the worlds of live sound, recording and AV production. The patch bays have been fully customized, designed by the Malvicino Design Group (one of our GC Pro Affiliates), and we can now fully track GC Sessions performances and other events, with the full arsenal of modern studio wizardry at our fingertips, including editing, effects and overdubs. We are raising the bar for what we can accomplish production-wise, and we will be passing that content onto the audio community at large.”


Other different kinds of programs based on the room are in the works, to further expand GC Pro’s reach and offer enrichment sessions/classes for the audio community. Manufacturer/vendors will be invited to participate in demonstrations, providing expert perspective – presentations that will be taped and posted on GC Pro’s website.

Allen Sides, GRAMMY® Award-winning engineer, producer and mixer who founded Ocean Way Recording, stated, “It’s great to have a room where you can actually hear what gear sounds like. We were excited to be involved with the acoustics and design of this great space, and to also provide a set of our new Ocean Way AS1 monitors. Critical listening is the only way to judge what gear sounds like, and in most retail environments you haven’t a clue until you get it home. This is a wonderful addition to GC Pro Hollywood.”

David Fischer, CEO of Auralex, added, “We are thrilled to have been chosen as the acoustical treatment of choice for GC Pro’s new high-tech facility. This state-of-the-art facility is an exciting development for GC Pro, and our involvement continues to strengthen the long-term relationship between Auralex and GC Pro.”

Horacio Malvicino of the Malvicino Design Group noted, “Installation of the new audio demo room at GC Pro was handled with the same approach we take with a regular studio installation. The console is fully wired to a total of four Audio Accessories TT 96 point patch bays, which allow access to all of the console features. We also added a sixteen-tie line panel in the control room to allow for quick interface of external gear, as well as a sixteen-input mic panel with Ethercon ports to interface a multi fold-back system.”

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.