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.”

Stage Monitoring for House of Worship

This "Application Series" article gives advice toward the specific areas of business serviced by Guitar Center Professional, including studio recording/film sound, live sound, house of worship, clubs/restaurants, business sound/lighting systems, and more.

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Unless you’ve spent some time onstage playing in bands of the spiritual or secular variety, the whole concept of stage monitoring might be hard to understand. The most simple way to get it is that if a musician or speaker can’t hear themselves (or other members of their band or choir) while onstage, it’s terribly difficult to put on a top-notch presentation or performance. Therefore, you need a solution in your house of worship that allows musical performances or spoken word presentations to be heard onstage as well as in the audience.

There are two general categories of stage monitoring systems: speaker monitors (also known as floor wedges) and in-ear monitors (IEMs, sometimes called personal monitors). Traditional stage monitors are wedge-shaped speakers that are placed toward the front of the stage, facing back toward the performers. In-ear monitors are exactly as the name implies: like the ear buds in an iPod, they fit into the external ear canals of the person addressing or performing for the audience.

Some worship facilities use a combination of traditional floor wedge stage monitors along with in-ear monitors for the best of both worlds. St. Andrews Presbyterian Church (Newport Beach, CA).

Houses of worship that opt for in-ear monitors (IEMs) over stage wedges enjoy a clear, uncluttered stage that can be an advantage for both performers and audiences. Grace Family Church (Lutz, FL).

Wedges vs IEMs
Floor wedges have been around for decades and are very simple in design; they are merely speakers that connect via audio cables to a mixing surface. There is an inherent level of reliability with this low-tech (but time-proven) solution. In choosing between floor wedges and IEMs, be aware that some performers simply don’t like the aspect of having things tucked into their ears while they play. They might find it too isolating from the natural acoustics of the stage and the room as a whole.

But in today’s world, it’s hard to pose an argument against in-ear monitoring. Using them, the performer gets a level of control of volume, panning, and other elements that is simply not possible in wedge monitors. In-ear monitors will never be a cause of feedback, which is always a danger when you have live speakers on stage that can direct sound back into open microphones. Finally, since most IEM systems are wireless, those performers can move about the stage more freely, since their mix is always right there with them. This can be especially good for dramatic performances.

Guitar Center Professional’s account representatives are experts at specifying monitoring systems for houses of worship. In many cases, they can even visit your place of worship to determine what will work best for you.

FAQ
How many floor wedges or IEM systems will our house of worship need?
The answer is dependent on several factors, including the size of the stage and the number of performers/presenters that will using them at once. With wedge monitors, each monitor will disperse sound over a certain area of the stage. In a typical worship band-type music event, it’s a good idea to have at least three wedges at the front of the stage for singers and instrumentalists, and more near the back for drummers, keyboardists, backing vocalists and the like. With in-ear monitors, the answer is more simple: each performer will require his or her own set of IEMs.

Is it complicated to set up and use a wireless IEM system?
No. It can be set up quickly and easily. However, making the most of an IEM system’s advantages (like setting up personalized levels and other settings for each performer) requires a level of aquired skill. In the professional live sound world, there’s a role called a “monitor mixer” whose sole job is to do just this. Your GC Pro rep can assist you in getting your IEM system set up and ready for use.

If we’re building a new facility from the ground up, is it important to take stage monitoring into consideration?
Stage monitoring is of vital importance to the quality of the performance or presentation, and therefore impacts the experience of the audience as well. It should be thought of on an equal degree of importance as your facility’s main PA system, lighting, and more.

What if we can’t afford our stage monitoring system all at once?
First, Guitar Center Professional has excellent financing programs tailor-made for houses of worship. Second, with both wedge speakers and IEMs, your monitoring system can be built and then added to as your budget permits.

Suggested Products

Yamaha CM15V 15” 2-Way Club Concert Series Monitor Speakers

Electro-Voice TX1122FM Tour-X Floor Monitor

Shure PSM 300 Wireless Personal Monitoring System

Sennheiser ew 300 IEM G3 In-Ear Wireless Monitor System

Audio-Technica M2 In-Ear Wireless Monitor System

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 Guides Memorial Drive Presbyterian Church

The AV control center at the Houston-area Memorial Drive Presbyterian Church, featuring a Studer Vista 1 console.

— Large Houston church acquires two Studer digital audio consoles with GC Pro managing a complex transaction from initial planning through installation and commissioning —
WESTLAKE VILLAGE, CA, June 30, 2016 — The Memorial Drive Presbyterian Church has been among the Houston area’s largest houses of worship for over 60 years. However, through most of that time, it was also a very analog institution, with a pair of analog consoles used for front-of-house mixing and to route audio to congregation overflow and post-production areas. As of this year, however, Memorial Drive Presbyterian Church has entered its own digital age, with the acquisition of two Studer digital consoles, purchased through Guitar Center Professional (GC Pro), the business-to-business (B2B) division of Guitar Center providing highly customized service for professional accounts. GC Pro managed the sale of a Studer Vista 1 desk, which was installed earlier this year, used to route audio to a number of locations around the church campus. A Studer Vista V console intended as the church’s new FOH console was also installed and commissioned at the beginning of the summer. GC Pro’s Houston-based team of account managers and sales associates handled both transactions.

“I knew what I wanted for this,” says Lennon Allison, AV Production & Design Engineer at Memorial Drive Presbyterian Church, of the church’s transition to digital audio technology. “I spent a lot of time researching and even taking training on a number of consoles, to make sure I found exactly the right one for us. Acquisition of equipment is a part of my job, and GC pro is my first choice when it comes to price point and ease of transaction.”

Allison had worked in the past with GC Pro Account Manager Troy Hanchett, including the purchase of the church’s Avid Pro Tools HD and Control 24 control surface for the church’s post-production department. While he had done his homework, Allison still depended upon GC Pro to make sure he got expert help in managing the transition to digital for the church’s key audio platforms. “Troy set up the conference calls between me and Studer, which made sure that we have everything planned out ahead of time,” he recalls. “He’s had a great working relationship with the church even before I took this position three years ago, so he knows our facility and its needs. We really depend on that.”

The first console has already made an impact on the church’s media operations. The audio is always split three ways – to FOH, a broadcast stream and Pro Tools. The church’s “tricaster” stream, which is always uploaded to the church’s website and for a campus-wide broadcast, generally sync’ed the “broadcast” video with the Pro Tools audio – in the past, processed with dynamics and EQ. “But now with the Vista 1,” notes Allison, “the audio being sent to the tricaster is so pristine that we no longer need to do any post-production of audio before posting the video, which means no post-production of audio required at all.” Another issue was inconsistent volume for a video-over-Ethernet signal, which goes straight to TVs in the church’s overflow area. “But now, the Vista 1's accurate metering and exceptional dynamics has made our levels consistent and tackled the problem of music vs. spoken word volume differences,” adds Allison.

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.

Video and Audio Systems for Anastasia Baptist Church

The Christian Life Center, a 15,000-square-foot sanctuary holding up to 1,200 worshipers, at Anastasia Baptist Church in St. Augustine, Florida, featuring new video and lighting systems sourced through Guitar Center Professional.

— Working with GC Pro Affiliate AV integrator Sound System Engineering, GC Pro continues assisting the church in refining its media systems and enhancing its ability to communicate its message —
WESTLAKE VILLAGE, CA, April 14, 2016 — The St. Augustine Lighthouse has been a beacon for Florida mariners since it was built in 1874. Similarly, the Anastasia Baptist Church, also located in what is the oldest city in the United States, describes itself as “a spiritual lighthouse” for its members. Guitar Center Professional (GC Pro), the business-to-business (B2B) division of Guitar Center providing highly customized service for professional accounts, has been a partner with Anastasia Church for the last three years, helping it keep its message clear and articulate.

The church’s main campus houses its Christian Life Center, a 15,000-square-foot sanctuary holding up to 1,200 worshipers. To enhance the worship experience in the sanctuary, Eli Higginbotham, the church’s Technical Director, again sought GC Pro’s help, and GC Pro responded. Jeff Aldrich, GC Pro Account Manager of North Florida at GC Pro’s Jacksonville office, recommended a new video system consisting of four Sony EVIH100V HD cameras, a Sony RMBR300 EVI BRC PTZ VISCA remote control unit, and a Roland V-40HD multi-format video switcher integrated into the churches existing video platform. The project also saw two 80-inch Sharp LCD monitors installed in the main sanctuary as well as 60-inch Sony monitors in two classrooms on the campus. In addition, a second, smaller sanctuary that seats 600 for more traditional worship services, had a JBL CWT128 8-inch 2-way loudspeaker system suspended above the orchestra area. Sound System Engineering (SSE) was the approved GC Pro AV system integration Affiliate that assisted in the systems’ design and performed the installation.

To illustrate the church’s 2016 sermon theme around mountains, the church suggested a custom LED lighting strip that would outline a mountain background lining the rear of the stage in the Christian Life Center. Lighting was addressed in a unique way for this systems upgrade: the installation of a 400-foot run of Aspect LED RGBW strip lighting tape to line the mountaintops that were designed and built by Doug Brown, Florida School of the Arts Technical Director.

“The church wanted to enhance their media capabilities and the overall worship experience,” Aldrich explains. “We’ve been working with them for the past two years, helping them do exactly that for all of their AVL needs.” Each and every component of the systems that GC Pro recommended was tailored to the church’s specific needs. For instance, the 180-degree dispersion pattern of the JBL CWT128 was what Aldrich calls “a phenomenal fit” with its programmable wave pattern. “One speaker for the entire choir and orchestra monitoring system,” he says.

The smaller sanctuary at Anastasia Baptist Church in St. Augustine, Florida, which seats 600 for more traditional worship services, featuring a JBL CWT128 8-inch 2-way loudspeaker system sourced through Guitar Center Professional.

Higginbotham notes that the relationship between himself and Aldrich goes back nearly a decade, to a time when Higginbotham worked as a manager for several Guitar Center store locations in the Southeast. “Jeff was one of my reps, and he was one of the best, so it was natural for us to continue this relationship when I came to the church,” he explains. Higginbotham says Aldrich’s astuteness is characteristic of GC Pro’s approach to dealing with clients, starting with the installation of new video cameras at the church two years ago, the results of which he described as “spectacular.” “They took care of everything then just as Jeff did with this most recent project, including sourcing the electrical contractor for the new lighting,” he says. “The great thing about working with GC Pro is, you never have to go anywhere else. They have it all.”

And as good as the technology has been for the church, it was the reaffirmation of the relationship that will be most enduring, and of the most benefit to the client. “The intangibility of a trusting relationship is really what GC Pro customers are experiencing,” says Aldrich. “I’ll always be there for them, and that means that GC Pro, with its huge depth of resources and its pricing power, will always be there for them. No one else offers that level of support.”

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.

Calvary Community Church Chooses the Right Console

The Avid® VENUE | S6L console setup at FOH at Calvary Community Church in Westlake Village, CA.

— GC Pro helps Calvary Community Church find exactly the audio mixing platform they needed to handle live FOH mixing and recording —
WESTLAKE VILLAGE, CA, March 31, 2016 — Launched in 1976 in a Hungry Tiger restaurant in Thousand Oaks, California, the Calvary Community Church moved into its 235,000-square-foot building on a 17-acre site in nearby Westlake Village in 1999 and have kept on growing ever since, now seeing an attendance of about 3,500 people each Sunday. One of the hallmarks of the church’s success has been careful management of capital costs, something that extends to its AV systems infrastructure. And just as the journey of a thousand miles begins with the first step, the road to replacing major sound and video platforms at the church began with the decision to replace its aging FOH console last year. For that, they enlisted the aid of Guitar Center Professional (GC Pro), the business-to-business (B2B) division of Guitar Center providing highly customized service for professional accounts, which was brought into the decision process at a point when the church leaders thought they had already come to a final decision.

“The console they had decided upon was a fantastic desk, but it also would have made it difficult to achieve all of their goals for the new console,” explains Neil Penninger, the Account Executive based at GC Pro’s Los Angeles location. “Part of what they were looking to do was increase the I/O count and facilitate recording directly to a Pro Tools system. The interface on the console they were considering would have made that complicated.”

Instead, Penninger recommended an Avid® VENUE | S6L, a modular system with onboard industry-standard plug-ins and Pro Tools integration. “We arranged for Avid to come out and put on a special semi-private demo — one of the first in Southern California for this console,” says Penninger. “The church leaders were all very impressed.” He pointed out how this console allowed them to have 64 channels of Pro Tools recording and playback and put it all on a single strand of AVB-networked Ethernet cable. “The console is also very user-friendly to operate, which is important to a church that often brings in outside acts with their own FOH engineers to run sound,” he says.

John King, the Pastor for Worship Arts at Calvary Community Church, says what GC Pro was also able to do was offer a better long-range strategic solution for them. “We’ve been using two of the consoles by the manufacturer of the first console we had been considering, because we were familiar with its operation,” he recalls. “But what Neil showed us is that the Avid was a platform that would continue to evolve, that it was an ecosystem that would be with us for five or ten years because it would be more upgradable. That kind of thinking is important for a church because of the need to spend so carefully.”

King says they’re looking forward to working with GC Pro over the next several years. “Every sale isn’t just a transaction — it’s the building block for a bigger, long-term relationship that benefits all of us,” says Penninger. “That’s what we do at GC Pro — build relationships.”

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.

Heroes Camp Recovers from Devastating Windstorm Damage

One of the basketball court spaces at Heroes Camp in Mishawaka, Indiana, featuring gear sourced through Guitar Center Professional.

— Faith-based sports ministry suffers massive damage as a result of a severe windstorm, and GC Pro and its AV integration affiliate Accutronics step up and stay with the organization through 15 grueling months of rebuilding, culminating in a joyful reopening in September —
WESTLAKE VILLAGE, CA, October 6, 2015 — The winds came on the night of July 1, 2014, and what they left in their wake was devastating. Heroes Camp, a sports ministry in Mishawaka, Indiana, that for 26 years has provided guidance and activities for area youth with its three basketball courts, a kitchen, locker rooms, a recording studio, and even a barbershop, had its ceilings torn down and its floors flooded. Over the next 15 months, Heroes Camp battled back, culminating in a grand reopening on September 12. Guitar Center Professional (GC Pro), the business-to-business (B2B) division of Guitar Center providing highly customized service for professional accounts, along with its Affiliates Program partner Accutronics LLC, was happy to be part of that miraculous comeback.

GC Pro sourced a wide variety of audio, video and lighting products and systems, including a QSC PA system, Da-Lite projection equipment, Shure and Sennheiser microphones, Atlona video products, Rapco cabling and Mid Atlantic racking. Many of these products were delivered through the Mishawaka Guitar Center store, which had long been a supplier for Heroes Camp’s MI needs, and they were installed and integrated by Accutronics.

Ryan Nigh, GC Pro Account Manager, remembers that he, Accutronics Owner Mike Love and Heroes Camp Executive Director Patrick “P.J.” Perri were just about finished with the paperwork for some upgrades to Heroes Camp’s existing systems along with some new products when the winds struck overnight. The next morning revealed the extent of the damage. What had been a relatively small upgrade project now turned into a recovery and rebuilding task, with substantial support from the community that Heroes Camp had been part of for a quarter of a century. “PJ had sent me a video of the damage and it was terrible,” Nigh recalls. “We all got together and determined what could be salvaged and what needed to be replaced. We were putting together a plan that would get them back to where they had been before the storm and then some, as cost-effectively as possible, because throughout the entire time they were also battling with insurance companies.” Nigh credits Toby Klingler, Manager of the Mishawaka Guitar Center store, for giving local store support, and logistics coordinator Jon Newby, for handling all of the special orders and shipping. “Everyone gave a hundred percent to get Heroes Camp back on its feet,” he says.

The recording studio space at Heroes Camp in Mishawaka, Indiana, featuring gear sourced through Guitar Center Professional.

PJ Perri concurs, citing GC Pro’s experience dealing with insurance issues. “They understood the critical difference between contents and structure,” he explains; how, for instance, a speaker on the floor can be considered in the contents category but once it’s hung from a wall or a truss it becomes part of a building’s structure — a critical distinction to an insurance adjustor eyeing liability limits. “I was very impressed with the knowledge and insight they were able to bring about insurance matters. That was very helpful.” And Perri was also happy with GC Pro’s choice of integrator, noting how Accutronics’ Mike Love was able to make the facility’s recording studio look better than ever. “It looks as good as it sounds,” says Perri. “He hid the wiring very artfully and everyone who comes in comments on the sleekness of the studio. Everyone involved was just awesome.”

“I was happy to help,” says Ryan Nigh. “GC Pro has been around a long time and we’ve accumulated a lot of experience – not just in professional AV but in everything connected with it,” he says. “But it was especially gratifying to see Heroes Camp come back, and see how the community and companies like Nike, Foot Locker and even the Chicago Bulls come together to help, because this was all for a much greater cause. We were glad to be part of that.”

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.

Bellevue Christian Center (Bellevue, Nebraska)

The Bellevue Christian Center, in Bellevue, Nebraska, featuring new audio, video and lighting solutions sourced through Guitar Center Professional and installed by Whiteley Solutions.

— AV systems integrator Whiteley Solutions relied on GC Pro to execute a lengthy and varied equipment list for a Nebraska church that needed to renovate two auditorium spaces over a strict timeline —
WESTLAKE VILLAGE, CA, September 24, 2015 — The Bellevue Christian Center, in Bellevue, Nebraska, had a big project to tackle: the renovation of an auditorium that would be used as a temporary sanctuary so its existing sanctuary could also be renovated. It was a huge project, one that generated a lengthy equipment list for audio, video and lighting, and one that would require every item from that list to arrive exactly on time, to keep to the project timeline and to assure that the congregation would have a suitable sanctuary every Sunday during the renovations. That’s why the AV systems integrator on the project, Whiteley Solutions, turned to Guitar Center Professional (GC Pro), the outside sales division of Guitar Center that focuses on the needs of professional users. “We knew they’d have what we needed, and they’d have it on site when we needed it,” says Zach Anthony, the Senior Systems Engineer at Whiteley Solutions.

The equipment list was substantial and included lighting systems from Martin, Chauvet, Altman and Elation; audio products from Yamaha, RCF, Sennheiser and AKG®; and video platforms from manufacturers including Vaddio, Blackmagic Design and Da-Lite. The project was scheduled for two phases, the first taking some audio and acoustical products into the church’s auditorium to allow it to be used to hold Sunday services. Once that was done, the work switched to the existing sanctuary, where the vast majority of the equipment purchased through GC Pro would be utilized.

GC Pro’s depth of inventory and logistical capabilities were crucial to the project’s success, says Anthony. “We’re a young contender in the AV industry,” he says, referring to the very recent merger of Whiteley Solutions with another regional AV systems integration company. “What GC Pro gives us for complex projects like this is a one-stop vendor that can supply us with everything we needed on this job — every part, every product, every bolt. And they can do it at competitive prices. And on a project like this, time is critical. They simplified the process for us and the client.”

GC Pro also supported the project by taking care of the logistics, arranging for shipping from Dallas to the suburban Omaha job site. Jeff McDaniel, the GC Pro Account Manager that Anthony worked with, says this is what GC Pro does every day. “We have the broadest selection of equipment in the business, so even the esoteric items are able to be sourced immediately,” he explains. “And GC Pro has locations all over the country, so getting it to a remote job location on time isn’t a problem. There’s no other company that can offer that level of service.”

Zach Anthony agrees — the Bellevue Christian Center project was scheduled to finish on time, with the opening on June 7. “I’ve been working closely with GC Pro for five years, and they have never let me down,” he says. “It’s been a rewarding relationship, for me and for my clients.”

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.

Metro City Church Expands with D.A.S. Audio

The view from the front-of-house position at the new Riverview, Michigan campus of Metro City Church, outfitted with A/V components sourced through Guitar Center Professional.

WESTLAKE VILLAGE, CA, August 24, 2015 — Several years ago, Metro City Church, located in the Detroit metropolitan area, outfitted its 900-seat sanctuary with a system of Aero Series 2 products from Spanish manufacturer D.A.S. Audio with assistance from Guitar Center Professional (GC Pro), the outside sales division of Guitar Center that focuses on the needs of professional users. Building on the success of that project, the church recently returned to GC Pro to purchase a second D.A.S. system for a new campus and its touring praise band.

Metro City Church is a very modern organization, employing the latest technology and media, especially music, to engage its congregation, which reportedly numbers about 1,500 people each weekend. According to Paul Johnson, GC Pro Senior Account Manager in Detroit, “Music plays a vital role in their worship services because it’s a great way to be relevant to their congregants. They have a praise band—Alive—that reaches out to hundreds of high school students.” Alive is also the name of the church’s high school division, which meets every Sunday night and addresses the local Downriver community of ninth through twelfth grade students.

Toward the end of 2012, Johnson, together with Paul Long, a Guitar Center Sales Associate based at the Southfield, Michigan store, in collaboration with Steve Trimble, D.A.S. Audio Regional Sales Manager, designed and installed a new sound system for the church after carefully considering the available options. Long, who is also on staff at Metro City as the church’s lead sound engineer, explains, “The church is very active with music, bringing bands in as well as it sending its own bands out, for probably 10 years now, so we see a lot of the equipment that’s being used. There were really three major companies—the top three brands that we’ve worked with on tours—that we were looking at, including D.A.S.”

The new Riverview, Michigan campus of Metro City Church, outfitted with A/V components sourced through Guitar Center Professional.

The sanctuary at the church’s original campus in Taylor, Michigan, features D.A.S. Aero Series 2 powered line array components flown in an LCR configuration—three cabinets in the center with six hung at either side of the stage. Two D.A.S. LX-215A powered band-pass subwoofers and eight LX-218CA dual-18-inch high performance powered subwoofers are stacked to the left and right and are configured in cardioid arrays in order to reduce standing waves on the stage. A similar setup was ordered for the church’s new campus, located in the southern Detroit suburb of Riverview, including a total of 15 D.A.S. Aero 12A line array modules flown in an LCR configuration, and 12 LX-218CA dual-18-inch subs, along with dbx DriveRack VENU360 speaker processing. The systems at both the Taylor and Riverview campuses are similar, says Long, “But one thing that is a bit different is that we originally sold them Aero 12As and they have since modified and upgraded the system to include Aero 38As as well as Aero 12s. So it’s more of a hybrid system now.” The powered three-way Aero 38A module houses two 12-inch and two 10-inch speakers plus a 1.5-inch high frequency compression driver.
The latest upgrade also includes four Sennheiser G3 Evolution 900 series handheld mics, a pair of G3 wireless body pack transmitters and rackmount receivers and three DPA d:fine 4088 miniature cardioid headset mics. This purchase also includes band equipment, including Meinl cymbals and an Ampeg SVT head, and a variety of instrument microphones, most notably Shure Beta52A, Beta56A and Beta91A dynamics and an Audix DVICE drum mic mounting system.
In appreciation, the church made its facilities available to Guitar Center for multiple GC Pro Live Sound Expos in 2014 and 2015, featuring the latest products from many high-end manufacturers. “Metro City Church was the first to partner with us to do one of those events,” says Johnson. “That was a big deal—they opened up their church to us.”

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.

House-of-Worship Technology Seminars: Chicago, Detroit

WESTLAKE VILLAGE, CA, August 12, 2015 — Guitar Center Professional (GC Pro), the outside sales division of Guitar Center that focuses on the needs of professional users, is holding a series of seminars across the country focused on audio, video and lighting for house-of-worship facilities.

Upcoming events include two scheduled for September. The first, serving the Chicago area, will take place in Palatine, Illinois, at New Life Church (1200 W. Northwest Hwy.) on Wednesday, September 9, 2015, from 12 p.m. to 6 p.m.

The event serving the Detroit area will take place in Taylor, Michigan, at Metro City Church (21080 Penn St.) on Friday, September 11, 2015, from 12 p.m. to 6 p.m.

Join us for a technology seminar, covering the latest techniques and products in stage lighting, sound reinforcement, audio mixing and video for house of worship live production. GC Pro personnel will be on hand to lead the event and answer questions.

There is no charge and everyone is welcome to attend.

For more information on Guitar Center Professional's House of Worship events, visit this link.

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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.

Koinonia Christian Center Church

The A/V equipment rack at Koinonia Christian Center Church in Arlington, TX, featuring a variety of gear sourced through Guitar Center Professional and installed by GC Pro affiliate Featherston Media. Photo courtesy of Featherston Media. © 2015.

WESTLAKE VILLAGE, CA, August 3, 2015 — Since its founding in 2004 by Pastor Ronnie Goines and his wife Nikki, Arlington, Texas-based Koinonia Christian Church has gathered a congregation of over 4,000 people. Now, as a result of an extensive renovation of a new church site whose technology needs were sourced by Guitar Center Professional (GC Pro), the outside sales division of Guitar Center that focuses on the needs of professional users, the church is ready to move forward on an even greater scale.

GC Pro worked hand in hand with Featherston Media, an AVL and IT systems integrator in the Dallas/Ft. Worth area, providing a wide range of equipment and technology platforms, including an Avid SC48 Venue FOH console, Shure in-ear monitors, Sennheiser wireless systems, JVC cameras and Blackmagic Design video systems. These were installed by Featherston Media’s integrators in consultation with GC Pro Account Managers. Featherston Media is also the newest addition to GC Pro’s highly successful Affiliates Program, which matches AVL clients’ projects with the best systems-integration partners and vendors nationwide.

A view of the stage and screen at Koinonia Christian Center Church in Arlington, TX, featuring a variety of gear sourced through Guitar Center Professional and installed by GC Pro affiliate Featherston Media. Photo courtesy of Featherston Media. © 2015.

The Koinonia Christian Center Church project was a large one — the church acquired a former Albertson’s supermarket site in Arlington and needed audio and video systems designed and installed for a new sanctuary, youth and children’s center, and gymnasium. They were already working with Featherston Media on the project when Adam Barnes, Featherston’s Director of Audio, Video & Lighting, brought Jeffery McDaniel, his former colleague and Senior Account Manager at the GC Pro location in the Dallas-Ft. Worth area, into the project to consult on design and product choices. “I used to work at the Guitar Center store in Dallas before coming to Featherston, and I knew that Jeff was the absolute best at making really practical technology and product suggestions, and GC Pro was the best at sourcing those systems and working with project budgets,” he says. “It was a great fit working together with them for this project, and as a result the client got the benefit of our design and integration capabilities, and of GC Pro’s depth of resources, their pricing power and their experience.” Barnes says he sent the project’s original bill of materials to McDaniel, who made some additional technology suggestions and then came back with an attractive proposal in terms of delivery times and budget-matching. “Also, Jeff makes himself available and can be on site if we need him,” says Barnes.

For his part, McDaniel says the project went as smoothly as it did because GC Pro and its Affiliates achieve a synergy that no other vendor can offer. “Featherston Media are what we look for in an integration partner — totally professional, easy to work with,” he says. “We’re already planning the next set of projects that we’ll be working together on. Companies like theirs are what lets GC Pro continue to be the leader in turnkey solutions for AV systems projects anywhere in the country.”

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.

Global Harvest Church Gets Help from GC Pro

Global Harvest Church in Carrollton, Texas, featuring upgraded AV components sourced through GC Pro.

— GC Pro shows the value of relationships as it helps Global Harvest Church move to its new space with the right technology, installation and service —
WESTLAKE VILLAGE, CA, December 1, 2014 — As churches expand, break off, or move into new spaces, they often need help finding the right mix of AV technology to let them get off the ground as successfully as possible. That’s exactly what Guitar Center Professional (GC Pro), the outside sales division of Guitar Center that focuses on the needs of professional users, was able to do for the new Global Harvest Church, in Carrollton, Texas, earlier this year.

For years, Global Harvest Church shared worship spaces with the New Song Church, also in Carrollton, but more recently members of the existing congregation sought to express their own worship style with their own separate worship facility. New Song Church has been a long-time customer of GC Pro, which had sourced audio and video products for the church in the past. Thus, the founders of Global Harvest Church became familiar with GC Pro’s vast inventory, competitive pricing and extensive knowledge of the entire AV spectrum of technology, and in particular with GC Pro’s Affiliate Program, which pairs clients who need AV installation/integration services with vendors with specific capabilities to fit those needs. In this case, the nascent church’s leadership approached GC Pro’s Dallas office with their plan, and GC Pro stepped up to help them accomplish this smoothly.

Beginning a year ago, GC Pro Senior Account Manager Jeffrey McDaniel began coordinating between the church and Omnicoustics, a local AV integration company that is a member of the GC Pro Affiliates Program. As plans with the new church’s architects began to come together, GC Pro and Omnicoustics owner Adrian Gamez developed AV systems designs that would perfectly integrate into the church’s physical architecture. These include a sound system featuring a DB Technologies DVA T4 powered line array, two DB DVA-S20DP Dual 18-inch powered subwoofers, a Symetrix SymNet® Open Architecture Dante® Scalable DSP processor, and Sennheiser handheld wireless microphone and in-ear monitor systems. Video components include a Blackmagic Designs router and SDI converters and Panasonic cameras, and three Apple iMac Quad Core computers, as well as lighting components from Chauvet.

“We’d had a lot of time to get to know them,” McDaniel says of the founders of the new church. “And they knew us from all the work we had done together at New Song over the years. We knew each other as people as well as professionals, and that makes a huge difference, especially in the house-of-worship category, where trust in who you’re dealing with is everything.”

The choice of Omnicoustics proved to be a good one for the church. Company owner Adrian Gamez recalls that the church, which has a fairly low ceiling, specifically wanted a line array sound system. “That’s usually not a good combination,” says Gamez, who analyzed the space using EASE software and determined that the DB Technologies T4 line array would be a good solution. “GC Pro sourced that for us, as well as all the other equipment and products we needed,” he says. “There’s a good balance between what we do and what GC Pro is best at that really delivers a great end result for the client.”

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, Georgia’s New Hope Baptist Church

Perry, Georgia’s New Hope Church, featuring upgraded audio, video and lighting solutions designed by and sourced through GC Pro.

— GC Pro acts as a one-stop shop for church’s AVL needs, including systems design and integration, readying the facility for a new generation of worshipers —
WESTLAKE VILLAGE, CA, November 20, 2014 — The New Hope Baptist Church of Perry, Georgia, intimately understands the need for AV technology for communicating its message. But like many churches, New Hope needed help figuring out what would best suit its needs. That’s where Guitar Center Professional (GC Pro), the outside sales division of Guitar Center that focuses on the needs of professional users, came into the picture. GC Pro account manager Brad Lyons met with the church’s leaders and offered a turnkey solution that comprehensively addressed audio, video and lighting in a single package.

GC Pro brought in one of its Affiliate Program members, locally-based Commercial Sound and Video, to implement all of these integrated solutions. They included a single-point line JBL VRX932 line array above the church’s front area with JBL CBT70J side-fills on each side. Three JBL PRX718XLF self-powered subwoofers were cut into the stage and installed. The choir monitor is a single JBL CTB70J1 line array cabinet behind the VRX line array. This is all powered by nine Crown XTI2002, XTI4002 and XLS1500 power amps. A new 32-channel Soundcraft Expression console with a 32x8 stage box is connected via CAT5.

Congregants gathered at Perry, Georgia’s New Hope Church, featuring upgraded audio, video and lighting solutions designed by and sourced through GC Pro.

“The best feature is we put this on a wireless network, allowing control from the floor and on-stage with an iPad, especially useful considering the booth is a room in the upstairs back corner part of the sanctuary,” explains Lyons. “Another huge feature was being able to program the console and lock-out controls for the volunteer team so that they have perfect sound every week.”

For video, two new Panasonic PTDW640 projectors now illuminate a pair of new 12-foot-wide Da-Lite screens. A newly installed Blackmagic ATEM1/ME video switcher has become the centerpiece of the entire facility. “We re-purposed an old projector and screen to be used as a rear-wall confidence monitor,” Lyons explains. “The Blackmagic allows us to send independent video sources to the two front screens as well as the rear-screen. This has really increased the effectiveness of the church’s video system.” In addition, a new Blonder Tongue QME Modulator allows them to distribute live video and audio to previously installed televisions in the foyer, kitchen, pastor’s office, treasurer’s office, fellowship hall and other overflow areas. A new lighting package consists of two Chauvet Ovation 165w LED fresnels and a Chauvet Ovation 190 ellipsoidal that now provide a dramatic improvement to lighting the pulpit.

What really made the difference for New Hope Baptist Church was how GC Pro was able to offer a comprehensive solutions approach for all of the church’s AVL needs. “The great thing is that Brad [Lyons] speaks their language,” says Nathan Miller, owner of Commercial Sound and Video. “Churches aren’t residential or commercial — they are their own category and have unique needs and requirements. GC Pro understands that, and that’s why they’ve been so successful in this category. We ‘get’ what churches need. And only GC Pro is positioned, through its sales, inventory, sourcing and integration resources, to provide that kind of service.”

Willie Williams, long-time member and project manager for New Hope, went on to say, “We couldn’t be more pleased with the upgrade investment our church has made. In fact, we continue to receive compliments on just how much better everything looks and sounds. There are a few more projects we need to tackle, but we are happy and excited to be working on these projects with both GC Pro and Commercial Sound and Video.”

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.

Central Baptist Church Gets a Makeover with GC Pro

— GC Pro Account Manager Brad Lyons and GC Pro Affiliate Program Member Commercial Sound And Video take Central Baptist Church into the era of contemporary worship with new sound system including digital audio console, in-ear monitoring and upgraded backline —

WESTLAKE VILLAGE, CA, October 29, 2014 — The last time the Central Baptist Church of Americus, Georgia, got a new sound system, the church’s music was focused around the traditional elements of choir and organ. Times changed, and so did the church’s style of worship, which has expanded to encompass more contemporary forms of praise and worship music, with electric guitars and drums joining the joyful noise. These changes, however, made the inadequacy of the original sound system readily apparent. That led the church to Guitar Center Professional (GC Pro), the outside sales division of Guitar Center that focuses on the needs of professional users.

Atlanta-based GC Pro Account Manager Brad Lyons spent time listening to the needs of the church and helped design a completely new sound system, including connecting them with locally based AV systems integrator Commercial Sound And Video, which provided installation services. And it was a big project. Lyons summarized the situation: “Some areas were too loud, others you could barely hear anything at all, and no bass response,” he says of the sanctuary’s sound system. “On-stage monitoring for the band was a hodge-podge at best. We transformed their entire sound system, customizing it to the unique challenges in their large worship space, but we also re-designed the stage layout and provided a state-of-the-art personal monitoring system for the large praise team and orchestra.”

A new system using four Electro-Voice EVF1152D 15-inch cabinets was flown above the main floor in a 90x60 coverage pattern, and each with an Electro-Voice EVU1082 8-inch downfill cabinet mounted. A total of eight Electro-Voice EVU1082 fill cabinets were placed in the balcony, four per side. A pair of Electro-Voice EVF2151D Dual 15inch subwoofers fills the entire sanctuary with powerful bass. The power amps are Electro-Voice CPS-series power amps, with control using an Electro-Voice DC-ONE system processor. The existing 48-channel analog mixer (with 16-channel auxiliary mixer) was replaced with a 64-channel AVID S3L console with four independent stage boxes. Three racks on-stage and one at the FOH booth completely bypass the original analog patching system, providing a superior upgrade in sound and eliminating cable mess on the stage. The AVID S3L also provides 64-tracks recording to Pro Tools connected via CAT5 to the supplied Apple iMac computer and Glyph hard-drive, designed for playback in virtual sound check mode. This allows them to record rehearsals, then play the tracks back to fine-tune the individual channel settings for a better mix.

“With the S3L there is full recall of all settings and scenes,” stated Lyons. “Every Easter they have a big production and this will allow them to have total control of the production.”

Based on Lyons’ design, Commercial Sound And Video installed a PIVITEC 32-input personal monitor system controlled via Apple iPad Minis with a total of nine independent mix stations and the ability to add as many more as they wish. There were many custom touches, with the goal of making the operation as simple as possible. One such feature was a customized patch panel consisting of eight XLR Male and eight SPEAKON connectors that took the guesswork out of connecting a stage monitor into the system.

Lyons adds, “Although the PIVITEC in-ear system was an amazing upgrade for the worship band, we still needed to provide traditional monitors to the choir, instruments, lead vocals and other musicians. Typically I would have to go find a speaker, a power amp and the cables, route a channel out of the console into the amp, connect a speaker cable to the speaker, and so forth. But here I designed the panel to take any confusion or error out of the situation. The process is simple really — I designed eight specific outputs from the VENE S3L console for MONITOR MIX OUTPUTS, labeled MONITOR 1 through MONITOR 8. Patching into any of the XLR Inputs of the panel fed directly to a specific amplifier channel on the Electro-Voice CPS8.5 power amp (eight channels at 500-watts power per channel), and that speaker output then fed back to the SPEAKON out below the XLR connector. You can simply plug in a speaker cable to the desired speaker, and voila!”

The result was a total success and everyone associated with the church is extremely happy with the new 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.

Best of AES 2014: Mackie DL32R

GC Pro has returned from a tremendously successful 2014 Audio Engineering Society (AES) show, held at the Los Angeles Convention Center not very far from our headquarters in Westlake Village, CA. We'll be taking a closer look at a number of products that we found especially interesting, useful, or just plain cool. Here's a new product that encompasses all three qualities: the Mackie DL32R 32-channel wireless digital mixer with iPad control.

Everything from Anywhere
We live in amazing times, especially if you work in pro audio and live sound. Take the Mackie DL32R... a 32-channel digital mixer that you control via your iPad. But wait; it's also a direct-to-drive multitrack recorder/playback tool. But wait; it's also jam-packed with digital signal processing. But wait; the whole thing is contained in a 3U rackmount enclosure. So while we were a bit skeptical toward Mackie's "Control everything from anywhere" claim with the DL32R, we have to admit: that's pretty much exactly what it does, and now your live sound venue, house of worship, or studio can do it too.

32-channel wireless digital mixer
The DL32R starts with 32 Onyx+ recallable mic pres with wireless control. It's got the professional interfacing you need, including 14 fully-assignable XLR outputs and a stereo AES digital output. All settings on the DL32R can be recalled for future use. Its 3U rackmount design is perfect for both touring or a permanent installation, and it has an expansion card slot.

Wireless Mixing: the FOH mix position is now wherever you are
You can ditch that cable snake, because you're not going to be tied down to anything with the DL32R. The reason? It operates wirelessly, giving you complete control from your iPad. Need to walk around the room and check null points and dead spots? Carry your iPad and adjust your mix while you move through the room. Need to set up a personal monitor mix? You can use multiple iPads, iPhones, or iPod touches (up to 10 separate iOS devices at once), and let the performers tweak their own IEM or stage wedge mix. Now your only question is where to put that mixer (answer: wherever you want).

Multi-track recording & playback
The DL32R offers 32x32 USB 2.0 audio interfaces for Mac or PC, as well as 24x24 recording/playback direct to USB 2.0 hard drive. Do you get wireless control over all direct-to-disk recording/playback functions via the iPad? Of course you do. And how can you use this capability? How about recording your live shows for later mixdown? Or perhaps playing back intermission music and backing tracks? Or doing virtual sound checks to tune the venue before the band has even arrived? This capability might allow the DL32R to be the centerpiece of your studio. You can even use Mac or PC audio plug-ins in a live environment.

DSP? Yeah baby!
The DL32R is packed with digital signal processing and flexible routing that you'll need for live sound, including 36 input channels with 4-band PEQ + HPF, gate and compression. You also get 32 stereo-linkable input channels, 28 output busses with 4-band PEQ + HPF/LPF, 31-band GEQ, comp/limiter and alignment delay, and much more.

Master Fader control app
Your main way of connecting your ears and your brain to the DL32R is via the Master Fader app, an intuitive and easy-to-master app for your iPad. You get fast navigation with view groups and overview, and a quick setup with tons of factory and user-definable presets. You can limit access as needed to prevent any unwanted adjustments (like, by the guy who wants to use your iPad to update Twitter). And like any app, Mackie can quickly offer updates via the Apple App Store.

About the only thing you need to provide to take advantage of the DL32R is an iPad and a Wi-Fi router. Along with those, you really can control everything from anywhere. Well, reasonably speaking. Don't try and mix a show in Cleveland from Chicago. That's just bad form.

GC Pro Knows Live Sound!
From bars and nightclubs to restaurants and houses of worship, GC Pro's representatives are experts on helping you put together the ultimate live sound system within your budget. The Mackie DL32R seems like an excellent addition to just about any live sound environment, so contact us now and get more information, or pre-order it today!

GC Pro Helps Faith Church Make a Quick Move

The new Faith Church location in Hammond, Indiana, featuring acoustical treatment and other gear sourced through GC Pro. Photo by Ryan Nigh, GC Pro. © 2014

— NW Indiana’s multi-site Faith Church was moving to a new location on a tight deadline, and GC Pro helped the church convert a reverberant rented gym into a highly intelligible worship space —
WESTLAKE VILLAGE, CA, July 15, 2014 — Faith Church was originally founded in 1963 in South Holland, Illinois, and like many growing churches these days, its expansions have taken the form of additional “satellite” locations instead of ever-larger main church buildings. They moved to Dyer, Indiana, in 2002 and launched their first satellite location in September 2007 in Cedar Lake, Indiana. A second satellite launched in the spring of 2009 in Valparaiso, Indiana, and two years later on Easter 2011, they opened a campus in Hammond, Indiana; in September 2012, Faith Church crossed over the state line to launch its campus in Beecher, Illinois. Most recently, the church changed locations in Hammond, moving from its original rental space there to a larger one at the Hammond Academy of Science and Technology, where they have contracted to use the school’s gymnasium on Sundays for services. “We have six locations now, and while four of them are in buildings that we own, in two of them we have a rental model, which we find works well at a time when construction costs are rising,” explains Bryan Ford, Faith Church’s Technical Operations Manager. “It gives us a lot more flexibility as we grow.”

Like most gyms, the Hammond Academy’s acoustics are highly reverberant, the opposite of the kind of extremely intelligible environment needed for worship services. Faith Church turned to Guitar Center Professional (GC Pro), the outside sales division of Guitar Center that focuses on the needs of professional users, for a solution. GC Pro brought in Accutronics LLC, a regional acoustical consultancy and A/V installer, which along with GC Pro Account Manager Ryan Nigh evaluated the location’s acoustical needs. GC Pro then specified, and Accutronics designed the layout for and installed, nearly 100 Auralex ELITE ProPanel and Cloud ProPanel acoustical panels on the 120 X 80-foot gym’s walls and ceiling.

“It worked out perfectly, and the entire process was transparent to the client,” says Mike Love, Owner of Accutronics. “We looked at the building, Ryan drew up a proposal and sent it to Auralex, which sent us back a list of the right product materials and placement patterns to use for this specific project, and we installed them without hassle.”

Of a total of 95 Auralex acoustical panels, Accutronics installed 40 of them on the gym’s ceiling to reduce flutter echoes and the rest on the walls to absorb reflected sound. As a result, the gym’s reverb time dropped from eight seconds to 1.3 seconds. “That’s a huge reduction in reverb time,” says Love. “And that‘s the kind of result you get when you work with an organization like GC Pro. In this case, the client got an accurate assessment of their situation, an expert solution design, exactly the right products to address the problem and expert installation. Only a company like GC Pro can provide that kind of comprehensive service.”

Faith Church’s Bryan Ford could not agree more: “The difference in the sound is enormous — it’s dramatically improved. They were able handle the entire project from start to finish, and they were also able to meet a very tight deadline and get us into our new church on time. When we opened three weeks ago, we got comments on how good the sound was. We have a lot of music, so we needed to control the sound as much as possible. That’s exactly what happened, so we’re glad we picked GC Pro.”

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.

Panasonic Projector Deals

For houses of worship, live sound venues, and other A/V systems installations that need a professional-quality projection system: now's the time to get the Panasonic projector you've always wanted! Between now and March 31 2013, you can get a free lens or a $1500 cash rebate on select Panasonic projector models.

MODELS ELIGIBLE FOR FREE LENS*:

• PT-DZ21KU
(shown above)
• PT-DS20KU
• PT-DW17KU
• PT-DZ8700U
• PT-DS8500U
• PT-DW8300U
• PT-DZ770ULS/ULK
• PT-DZ680ULS/ULK

MODELS ELIGIBLE FOR $1500 CASH REBATE**:

• PT-DZ770US/UK
• PT-DZ680US/UK
(shown above)

* These models, which usually do not come with a lens, will include a lens at no additional cost when ordered by March 31, 2013.
** A lens comes standard with this model. Customers can apply for a $1,500 Cash Rebate for purchases made through March 31, 2013.

Contact your local GC Pro representative here, or by calling toll-free at 877-704-2776. But don't delay! You can only take advantage of this special offer by March 31, 2013!

GC Pro Helps First Baptist Church

First Baptist Church of Sebring, Florida, recently renovated and featuring a new sound system sourced through GC Pro.
WESTLAKE VILLAGE, CA, October 30, 2012 — The First Baptist Church of Sebring, Florida, was founded in 1922. A lot has changed in the intervening 90 years, including the church’s move to its current location in 1987. Since then, the church has continued to expand its campus, adding a Fellowship Hall, kitchen, elevator, children's department, and the "ROC" (Recreation Outreach Center) for athletic events, social gatherings, and youth activities. One of the things that didn’t change as quickly, however, was the church sanctuary’s sound system, which was both old and ill-designed for the church’s dimensions, which are wider than long, causing many sound problems (for instance, the 60-person choir would miss many of the weekly sermons due to lack of intelligibility through the PA system). A change needed to happen, so the church reached out to Guitar Center Professional (GC Pro), the outside sales division of Guitar Center that focuses on the needs of professional users, for help. Today, everyone in First Baptist of Sebring can hear every word spoken by the Pastor and every note of music sung by the choir and played by the worship band.

GC Pro’s team assessed the church’s needs carefully, noting in particular the specification for a sound system with excellent horizontal dispersion characteristics, to address the building’s interior dimensions and lack of acoustical treatments. Commuting from GC Pro’s Tampa office, GC Pro Account Manager Mick Hall spent hours at the church, figuring out the best systems for its needs. These included a JBL VRX928 line array system configured as a center cluster, with two VRX dual-15-inch subwoofers.

“The old systems left a number of dead spots throughout the church,” Hall explains. “It simply didn’t have the reach, and as a result intelligibility suffered. Rooms with these kinds of dimensions need very specific kinds of system solutions.”

The new PA system was rounded out with a new Yamaha LS9 FOH console, Aviom in-ear wireless monitoring for the band, an Ashly NE24.24M matrix processor, a Sennheiser Evolution wireless microphone system, and a pair of JBL CBT 70 mini-arrays for the choir’s monitors. Hall also specified two Mitsubishi 8100 video projectors. “The big picture was to get even and consistent sound coverage for the entire sanctuary, which is something the church had never had,” says Hall.

GC Pro was chosen as the partner on this project based on the comprehensiveness of their approach, which included detailed design and consultation services and installation availability through its Approved Vendor Program, in addition to competitive pricing. “We let them know we would be their partners in this project, not just a vendor selling equipment,” says Hall. “That’s how GC Pro does it.”

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.