Installations, System Upgrades at Chicago-Area Restaurants

Red Star Cocktail Lounge in Chicago’s south side, featuring sound and lighting design from Guitar Center Professional in collaboration with GC Pro affiliate Accutronics.

— GC Pro brought its sourcing acumen and pricing power together with a trusted installation and integration partner from its Affiliates Program to provide the owner of The Island Sports Bar & Grill and the new Red Star restaurant and lounge with the kind of sound and lighting that helps set them apart —
WESTLAKE VILLAGE, CA, April 11, 2016 — Adam Shorter thought he needed a few speakers for his new Red Star restaurant and lounge on Chicago’s storied South Side. What he ended up with was a sound and lighting design for both Red Star Cocktail Lounge and his existing Island Sports Bar & Grill that puts both venues miles ahead of the competition, done on time and within budget, thanks to the resources of Guitar Center Professional (GC Pro), the business-to-business (B2B) division of Guitar Center providing highly customized service for professional accounts.

“Adam came into the Chicago Guitar Center store looking for help with his new bar, Red Star, which was then under construction,” recalls Ryan Nigh, GC Pro Account Manager based in Chicago. “He needed a sound system very quickly and was going to just purchase a few speakers when the store associate told him about Guitar Center Professional and our installation services. We scheduled a meeting with Adam, brought in Accutronics, one of our long-time Affiliate partners, and together we designed a custom PA solution that we were ready to install in less than a week.”

Mike Love, Owner of Accutronics, says Shorter appreciated the nuance he was able to bring to the project. “We want the sound to be great but not to interfere with the look of the venue, so we did things like using the JBL Control 60 series pendant speakers that are suspended instead of attaching speakers to the wall on brackets,” he explains, noting that the system is powered by Crown XLS amplifiers and controlled through a dbx® Driverack, all supplied through GC Pro. “GC Pro was able to get every piece of equipment we needed to the job site on time or even ahead of schedule, so that we were able to make Mr. Shorter’s grand opening date in early December.”

In fact, the project was going so well that Shorter asked GC Pro and Accutronics to upgrade the lighting in his other venue, the Island Sports Bar & Grill, in Blue Island, also on Cook County’s South Side, including fixtures from American DJ, Chauvet and Elation.

Shorter says he was extremely pleased with how GC Pro and Accutronics approached his venues’ needs. “They were responsive, always there, and they took the time to explain in detail everything they were recommending, so I never felt like I was out of the loop,” says Shorter. “And the results are fantastic. When I start getting ready to open my third location later this year, I’ll be doing that with GC Pro. I couldn’t imagine not using them again. That’s how good this experience was.”

“By using GC Pro services, both of his clubs have a professional setup that was designed specifically for the space, and both locations were completed before Christmas,” says Nigh. “What I really appreciated is that he embraced the idea of a first-rate sound system for Red Star. We put a VRX sub, which is JBL’s touring sub, in the ceiling, so it’s a sound system that really stands out in terms of quality. In a lot of ways he is the perfect customer, because he understands quality. And that makes GC Pro the perfect vendor for him, because quality is all we know.”

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

===

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.

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.

===

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.