GC Pro Helps Church at Viera Keep Up with their Fast Growth

Standing in front of the Allen & Heath dLive S7000 at Church at Viera are (left to right) Pastor of Worship Arts Trevor Hislop, Technical Director Doug Schaefer, Production Director Eli Higginbotham, and GC Pro Account Manager Jeffrey Aldrich. The church recently expanded their audio systems in both their main auditorium and youth sanctuary with the help of GC Pro.

WESTLAKE VILLAGE, CA, February 8, 2017 -- Located in Melbourne, FL, Church at Viera is growing quickly. With the help of Guitar Center Professional (GC Pro), the business solutions division of Guitar Center providing highly customized service for professional accounts, the place of worship met their goals of expanding their live sound systems on time and under budget.

The church recently worked with GC Pro’s Jacksonville-based account manager Jeffrey Aldrich, who specified and assisted with the installation and setup of an Allen & Heath dLive S7000, the largest of the company’s dLive family of control surfaces, along with a DM64 MixRack processing and audio I/O stage box. At the same time, new stage trussing was planned and installed.

“I just don’t have the time to deal with all the install logistics,” says Church at Viera Production Director Eli Higginbotham. “I’ve got to prioritize my time and attention to production. Jeff and GC Pro worked directly with the installer and handled the integration. He arranged for the gear to be shipped in advance so there would be time to configure everything and troubleshoot the system. All I had to worry about was learning new gear.”

Higginbotham also pointed out the biggest benefit of the DM64 MixRack, which was the doubling the number of output busses from 16 to 32. For the new stage trussing, GC Pro specified Global Truss for its reliability and flexible designs.

Church at Viera's main auditorium, featuring recently upgraded audio systems specified and provided by GC Pro along with their installation affiliate Stellar Audio Visual.

Aldrich, working with GC Pro installation affiliate Stellar Audio Visual, was happy to help. “This upgrade to the church’s systems was on a very strict timeline. There were events upcoming that meant the entire systems had to be done quickly, so we had the gear shipped from the manufacturer directly to our Orlando store. The church schedule had to stay seamless to not interrupt ongoing services. By having the gear arrive early and held on station in one of our Orlando store locations, it allowed the client and the installer to operate without downtime.”

Church at Viera continued its growth over the course of 2016 when Aldrich and GC Pro also assisted Church at Viera on the expansion of their youth sanctuary with new PA and lighting systems. Aldrich recommended loudspeakers and subwoofers from Electro-Voice, including the EKX-15P, ELX-112P, and ELX-118P. The church chose Shure QLXD as their wireless microphone systems for the sanctuary, as well as high-quality Jands Vista lighting systems.

Church at Viera's youth sanctuary was upgraded with new PA and lighting systems with the help of GC Pro.

Higginbotham continues, “We just came out of the busiest part of our season, December. All the stuff that Jeff was able to do for us put us in a position to host our largest crowd in 25 years, with over 3500 people in attendance. The entire process of working with GC Pro was very, very smooth. The integration of our systems was superb. Jeff made it very easy to perform all the services. I should add that the new system is also volunteer-friendly, which is important to a church like ours.”

Aldrich adds that GC Pro offers a tremendous advantage for houses of worship under typical challenging circumstances. “It’s more than a matter of selecting the right mix of products and arranging for installation. We are often tasked with working within volunteer schedules, taking pre-production time into account, and doing everything possible to not hinder normal church workflow. The only way this can be accomplished is with the flexibility and operational power offered by GC Pro.”

WheelPower Studio Biking Fitness Center (Deerfield, IL)

WheelPower Studio in Deerfield, Illinois, featuring audio and lighting systems sourced through Guitar Center Professional. Photo courtesy of Evie Steege.

WESTLAKE VILLAGE, CA, June 15, 2016 — Fitness centers may not be the first thing people associate with Guitar Center Professional (GC Pro), the business-to-business (B2B) division of Guitar Center providing highly customized service for professional accounts, but in fact GC Pro has supplied audio and lighting systems to several exercise facilities, for instance, through its long-standing working relationship with Atlanta-based Indoor Cycle Design. The company specializes in creating and outfitting indoor biking studios, including one of its latest projects, the just-completed WheelPower Studio in Deerfield, Illinois.

Tracy Chudnow, “chief sweat officer” of WheelPower worked hand in hand with Barbara Chancey Hoots of Indoor Cycle Design, Ryan Nigh and Jonah Joffe (Account Managers at GC Pro) and Mike Love of GC Pro’s Affiliates Program partner Accutronics LLC, in bringing the project to the finish line. WheelPower is GC Pro’s first fitness-center installation in the Chicago area. It has a unique interior design with a main exercise room that features tiered banks of indoor cycles in a stadium-seating arrangement, complemented by a sound system that Nigh points out “can rock the house with more SPL than most nightclubs and bars,” programmable LED lighting along the ceiling perimeter and two video screens.

“Chudnow and Hoots wanted to create an exciting, adrenaline-pumping atmosphere that had more in common with a rock concert or dance club than your typical static gym environment,” said Nigh. “The instructor can instantly tailor the music and lighting and the video screens can display the performance of the cyclists in real time.”

WheelPower’s four zones of distributed audio and lighting – main “cycle stadium” room, strength-training room, locker room and reception area – are all controlled by a unique custom instructor’s podium at the center of the cycle stadium, designed and built by systems integrator and acoustical consultant Accutronics.

The podium houses all the audio and lighting control gear and enables the instructor to operate all audio and video sources and lighting via laptop. “The podium is completely custom,” noted Nigh. “Mike Love had it custom built. It’s really a functional work of art.” In addition, wall controllers mounted throughout the facility enable adjustment of volume and source selection.

WheelPower Studio in Deerfield, Illinois, featuring audio and lighting systems sourced through Guitar Center Professional. Photo courtesy of Evie Steege.

At the heart of the installation is a Rane HAL DSP platform for distributed audio, paging and room combining. The system’s HAL 1X multiprocessor utilizes Cat5 cable to send audio and control signals over long distances.

A total of 17 QSC AD-S10T (2-way 10-inch), AD-S8T (2-way 8-inch) and AD-S6T (2-way 6-inch) surface-mount loudspeakers are mounted on ceiling brackets throughout the facility, and the speakers in the main room are angled at the tiered rows of cycles to provide smooth, even coverage for every rider. The speakers are driven by QSC PLD4.3, PLD 4.2 and GX5 power amps. A QSC KW181 18-inch, 1,000-watt subwoofer can deliver up to 135dB peak SPL of low-frequency impact to the main room and a QSC AD-S112SW sub handles the bass for the strength-training room.

20 Chauvet COLORband3 IRC strip lights are mounted along the ceiling, providing striking lighting effects including RGB color mixing and three control zones that can be synced to the system’s Elation DR-PRO RACK DRP665 DMX lighting controller. A Shure BLX14/SM31 headworn wireless mic system ensures that the instructor can be heard over the sound system.

To say that everyone was under pressure during the project would be like pointing out that the Tour de France is an important bike race. “The irony that we were racing against time to get a cycle studio completed was not lost on anyone,” Nigh said. “The installation simply had to get done by WheelPower’s April grand opening.” Love and the Accutronics crew had to work after hours so that the other contractors could complete their work during the day. “If any of them delayed, that cut into our allotted time,” Love pointed out. “We wound up working 16 to 18-hour days.”

Adding to the challenge, WheelPower Studio is located in a strip mall in between a hair salon… and a mattress store. Love noted, “If you’ve ever been to a mattress store you know it has to be dead-quiet – and here we were installing a system that could hit a high volume! Ryan did a great job with specifying the acoustic treatment in the wall – you can put your hand on the wall and not even feel the slightest vibration.”

“Considering all the challenges, in particular having to conform to the extremely strict Illinois electrical codes and the acoustical requirements, the actual installation itself went very smoothly,” Love said. “The Cat5 connectivity of the Rane components really saved time and labor and they worked exactly as specified, the QSC speakers could not have been easier to mount and GC Pro was top-notch in recommending the right products for the job and making sure we got them on time.”

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

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About Guitar Center Professional/Guitar Center
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.

Seacrets: King of the Virtual Beach

Seacrets, a nightclub, bar, restaurant and concert venue located in Ocean City, MD, recently upgraded with audio and lighting systems sourced through Guitar Center Professional. Photos courtesy of Jason Cruz/Seacrets. © 2015.

— Sprawling Ocean City, Maryland entertainment venue Seacrets renovated their music stages over the winter in preparation for a big summer, and GC Pro was their go-to source for audio, video and lighting —
WESTLAKE VILLAGE, CA, October 20, 2015 — Seacrets is a nightclub, bar, restaurant and concert venue located in Ocean City, MD, beside the Isle of Wight Bay. Opened as a “locals only” bar in 1988, it has since grown exponentially, now consisting of 16 bars, four performance areas, a clothing boutique, and an FM/Internet radio station located on the property, all with its “Jamaica USA” theme still intact. And the aesthetics of the place match that: live reggae DJs start at 10 a.m. every day, the restaurant features plenty of jerk chicken, and every year dozens of palm trees are planted and maintained for the summer season. In fact, summer is Seacrets’ biggest season, running each year from St. Patrick’s Day through Halloween, and this year’s summer sounded and looked better than ever, thanks to audio and lighting systems sourced through Guitar Center Professional (GC Pro), the business-to-business (B2B) division of Guitar Center providing highly customized service for professional accounts.

Using GC Pro’s extensive inventory and resources, AV Manager Jason Cruz was able to acquire all new systems for the Beach, Old Main Bar and Pier stages. These include a 64-channel Soundcraft Si Performer digital console, four new Crown XTI 6000 series amplifiers to beef up the existing PA systems, JBL Control series in-ceiling speakers and ASB subwoofers to extend the reach and range of the music, a Shure ULXS wireless microphone system and wireless PSM in-ear monitors, dbx® DriveRack DSP, Chauvet Rogue spotlight, Elation moving-head fixtures and American DJ Vortex moving washes. It’s a long list, and only GC Pro was able to provide a one-stop source for all of it.

“I have to replace some products and systems fairly often because the sand gets in there and it’s brutal on some pieces of gear,” says Cruz, who started at Seacrets in 2009 as a DJ and now supervises the AVL for the entire operation, even as he keeps his hand in spinning records at times. “Having GC Pro as a partner is a necessity, to be able to get what we need, when we need it, at a good price.” But GC Pro is more than that for Seacrets and Cruz. “I totally trust Mitch to let me know what the best product and system choices would be for any of the venues,” he adds, referring to GC Pro Account Manager Mitch Shaivitz at GC Pro's Baltimore-area office. “As the AV Manager, I’m expected to know everything about everything, and that’s impossible, so I rely on Mitch to fill in my knowledge gaps.”

Seacrets, a nightclub, bar, restaurant and concert venue located in Ocean City, MD, recently upgraded with audio and lighting systems sourced through Guitar Center Professional. Visible are JBL Control series in-ceiling speakers. Photos courtesy of Jason Cruz/Seacrets. © 2015.

One example of how GC Pro made a difference instead of just a sale is Shaivitz’s recommendation of the Shure in-ear monitors to replace stage wedges at the Beach stage. That not only eliminated another piece of equipment that would be exposed to the wear and tear of sand but also helped bands keep their stage volume in check, keeping the sound inside the venue and away from neighboring houses. “He also helped us make the transition to LED lighting, which resists sand better than conventional lights,” he says. Seacrets’ next season will also see a trip to GC Pro over the winter for new Crown amplifiers for the main concert hall. “GC Pro has made my life easier and Seacrets’ experience better,” says Cruz. “It would be hard to be this good without them.”

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

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About Guitar Center Professional/Guitar Center
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 Outfits Mother of Perpetual Help

DAS Aero 8A Line Array Boxes, part of a new sound system at Mother of Perpetual Help Parish Church in Garland, Texas, outfitted/installed by GC Pro and Affiliate Program member DJ Sound & Lighting

— GC Pro’s unmatched inventory translates into a full sound system design adapted exactly for the customer’s needs, and installation from one of GC Pro’s Affiliate Program integrator partners results in another successful project —
WESTLAKE VILLAGE, CA, September 10, 2012— Mother of Perpetual Help Parish Church in Garland, Texas, serves the vibrant Vietnamese Catholic community in the Dallas and Ft. Worth areas. The church recently constructed a new auditorium with a multi-purpose mission: as a place to hold conferences and seminars, and as the venue for the elaborate wedding ceremonies and receptions that are part of Vietnamese culture. And all of these applications would require sound that could accommodate the full frequency range of music and the high intelligibility demands of spoken word. That’s why the church turned to Guitar Center Professional (GC Pro), the outside sales division of Guitar Center that focuses on the needs of professional users, to fulfill this multi-part mission. Working with a budget typical for non-profit organizations like houses of worship, the Dallas GC Pro office was able to draw from a wide range of vendors that could not only provide cost-effective equipment and technology solutions but also offer design capability that would assure the system perfectly fit the specific needs of the church. The project also drew upon the deep installation base offered through GC Pro’s acclaimed Affiliate Program of highly qualified AV systems integrators to execute the design.

Kevin Deal, Account Manager at the Dallas GC Pro office, brought an understanding of the church’s needs to the table, as well as a long relationship with Kahn Nguyen, the church’s music consultant, who is responsible for operation and maintenance of the church’s sound systems. “We listened to what they were looking for, and we also were aware that the church was considering other bids,” Deal recalls. “But we knew that we had a much broader range of options we could choose between, from which we could put together a system that would both fit their budget but also perfectly fit the needs of the room and the applications.”

GC Pro presented a solution that used a DAS sound system consisting of 15 DAS Aero 8A Line Array Boxes, 6 DAS Avant 118A Subwoofers and a DAS DSP 4080 Processor. On the stage, eight DAS Avant 112A floor monitors would be managed by DBX 220i loudspeaker processors. Live sound is mixed through an Allen & Heath iLive T112 large-format analog console with an Allen & Heath IDR48 mix rack. Zoned sound is provided through DAS Arctec 26T speakers managed by a DBX ZonePro® 640 and powered by QSC CX108V amplifiers. DAS agreed to provide a detailed design plan for the system that precisely covered the entire auditorium, and it was all expertly installed by GC Pro Affiliate DJ Sound & Lighting.

Deal points out that the competing bid would have used a more expensive system that, based on the church’s budget, would have resulted in some areas insufficiently covered for sound. “The church had given us the CAD drawings of the auditorium and DAS worked from those, so there was a custom system perfectly suited for this project before they had even spent a penny,” Deal says. “That gave the church an enormous amount of confidence and gave us a huge competitive advantage.”

DAS and GC Pro arranged for a DAS systems specialist to fly in to tune the PA system after it was installed, to maximize its performance, at no additional cost to the customer. Kahn Nguyen was more than pleased with the entire project. “Myself and the church have been customers of Guitar Center for a long time, so we knew to expect the utmost from GC Pro,” he says. “And it's been great so far. Kevin has been very professional and knowledgeable.”

That kind of service – intimate understanding of the needs of a client through patient listening, the ability to source that widely for cost-effective solutions offering both products and services such as design, and the capability to bring installation as part of a turnkey package would be considered above and beyond the call of duty for any other pro audio retailer. But for GC Pro, “’Above and beyond,’” says Deal, “is what we do every day.”

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.

Chicago’s Earhole Studios

The control desk for Studio B at Chicago’s Earhole Studios, which for years has benefited from a close relationship with GC Pro for products, service and support.

— Newly installed Avid D-Command mix console was installed over a long weekend and ready to go to work at the beginning of the week thanks to GC Pro’s logistical experience and willingness to be there when needed —

— For over 20 years this successful Chicago Loop music and audio house has worked with top commercial clients, and GC Pro has been a longtime partner —

WESTLAKE VILLAGE, CA, March 13, 2012 — Earhole Studios has been part of Chicago’s thriving commercial music and audio business since 1990, currently serving clients including UPS, Chrysler, Sprite, Motorola, Allstate, BP and other major international brands. One of the reasons this 10-employee facility has been so successful is that they truly partner with their clients, looking for the nuances that will make the outcomes of their collaborations truly unique. That’s also the kind of support that Earhole Studios has long experienced with Guitar Center Professional (GC Pro), the outside sales division of Guitar Center that focuses on the needs of professional users, which has been providing Earhole Studios with sales, service and advice for years.

GC Pro has been the vendor for equipment that has gone into Earhole’s main Chicago location’s three mix rooms and their satellite locations in Los Angeles and Detroit, and even for many of the staff composers’ own personal studios. Most recently, GC Pro provided a new Avid D-Command recording and mix console that was installed in Earhole’s Studio B in Chicago, replacing an Avid Pro Controller there. But GC Pro provided more than just the products that help keep clients like Earhole Studios on the leading edge – they also offer expertise and know-how that makes major transitions like these easier and seamless.

“The new D-Command needed to go in and be up and running over what amounted to a long weekend, which was no simple task,” recalls Eric Lambert, a veteran Composer and Creative Director at Earhole Studios. “What made it happen was that the guys we’ve worked with at GC Pro for years, Dan Scalpone and Javier Briseno, not only got us the equipment we needed but also helped us pre-plan the entire transition from one console to the other. The trick to successfully pulling off a major installation like this is to plan it out in as much detail as possible in advance, in order to keep the amount of downtime for the studio to a minimum, and that’s something that Dan and Javier were incredibly adept at.”

GC Pro’s experienced sales representatives made sure they were available for Earhole’s staffers throughout the weekend of the installation, ready with any last-minute extras. Then there’s what Lambert calls the “last five percent” – the items that almost no amount of planning can allow for until the job is nearly finished. “GC Pro was there for that, too,” he says. “Whatever we needed, whenever we needed it, it was there for us.”

Looking over the studio, Lambert estimates that at least half of the equipment there was procured through GC Pro, including every piece of Avid gear in all of the facilities. Calling on his years of experience in advertising, Lambert offhandedly composes what could be the GC Pro mantra: “Always available, always knowledgeable, always helpful, always there,” he says. “What else could you ask for?”

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.

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.