Glen Glenn Is Reborn as Deluxe with the Help of GC Pro

A theatrical mix stage at the Glen Glenn Sound facility, the center of audio post-production operations for Deluxe.

WESTLAKE VILLAGE, CA, January 27, 2016 — There was a time when the name Glen Glenn Sound was at the top of a very short list of sound-for-picture facilities. Founded by film and television audio pioneer Glen R. Glenn, a Canadian electrical engineer who migrated to Los Angeles in 1931, Glen Glenn Sound was established in 1937 and quickly became the go-to supplier for post-production sound services for films and later for the then-new medium of television. The company, which grew to 14 studios at three locations and became the largest independent audio post-production company in the world, was involved in the audio post for over 20,000 theatrical films and television shows, until it was acquired by an equally iconic brand in the sound-for-picture business, Todd-AO, in 1986.

Fast forward to today, when Deluxe — yet another truly iconic name in media, founded as a film lab that grew into an innovative creative services and delivery solutions provider, and which celebrates its 100th anniversary this year — revitalized the Glen Glenn Sound building on Seward Street in Hollywood, part of a restructuring of the media giant’s content development facilities. The Glen Glenn Sound name will remain on the side of the building, built in 1981, a reminder of its historic legacy, but inside, Deluxe Audio Seward, as the facility is now known, will be at the cutting edge of modern audio post-production technology and workflow. This transition was accomplished thanks to products, service and support from Guitar Center Professional (GC Pro), the business-to-business (B2B) division of Guitar Center providing highly customized service for professional accounts.

As much as half of the building’s 40,000 square feet are taken up with five theatrical mix stages, with three functioning as Dolby Atmos and DTS-X immersive rooms. Stage 5, formally an ADR-only stage, was converted to a hybrid mix/ADR room that functions as a premier TV mixing stage. Stage 7 is unique in that it can transition between home and theatrical immersive formats, giving valuable real world translation experiences for the content creators.

“When you see the name on the side of the building, you’re immediately reminded of the immense history that comes with this place, which is that it’s one of the few large buildings in the world ever purpose-built from the ground up specifically for audio,” observes Doug Higgins, Director of Audio Operations for Deluxe. “Once you step inside, it doesn’t feel like you’re in a thirty-something-year-old building. The technology is cutting-edge.”

A significant amount of the equipment was sourced and supplied through the Los Angeles office of GC Pro. Deluxe Seward took delivery of a massive amount of systems, platforms, and products from brands including Avid, JBL, Crown, Focusrite RedNet, Evertz, Waves, Izotope, Audioease, Neyrinck and Panasonic. “Working with the team at GC Pro was fantastic,” says Higgins. “They gave us the attention we needed to get through an aggressive transition period.”

Equipment and technology decisions were made based on which ones could not only give the facility the ability to match a wide range of client needs but do so at a level without compromise — part of Deluxe’s strategy is to be one stop solution for its clients — and keep efficiency high, but also adapt to changes in workflow, technology, and the industry environment around them going forward.

Several processes were implemented to achieve all of this. For instance, audio signal flow around the facility is a hybrid of MADI, Dante, and BLU-based digital audio networking. All of the facility’s mix stages are utilizing MADI I/O to help efficiently deal with immersive audio, such as Dolby Atmos and DTS-X. From MADI, the signal then is sent to the Focusrite RedNet 6 box for conversion to Dante. From there, audio as networked data is distributed to Dante-enabled BSS BLU-806 BLU-Net processor that communicates via BLU Link to the Crown amplifiers — where all of the D/A conversions take place — for the audio monitoring chain.

That signal flow configuration will take on even more importance for monitoring as the number of film-sound speaker formats continues to expand, with the now-conventional 5.1 and 7.1 being joined by Dolby Atmos and DTS-X immersive format with up to 64 discrete speakers in a room. Stage 1 currently supports the Cinema Giant Screen (CGS) format, whose images are more than 65 feet wide and 35 feet tall.

“We have significant needs for audio signal-distribution throughout the building, and much of it is literally running across ethernet and coaxial cables,” Higgins notes. “We can change formats, configurations, and destinations very quickly.”

In addition, a KVM (keyboard, video, mouse) system from IHSE is implemented throughout the facility, allowing very flexible and efficient workstation management across the mix stages so that authorized users can remotely and securely connect to any workstation, providing a huge boost to workflow efficiency, Higgins says. “This is what makes the facility dynamic,” he explains. “A multi-workstation project can be moved from room to room with very little setup time. In addition, our 10 gigabyte fiber ring to our other Deluxe worldwide facilities truly helps meet our customer’s needs.”

In some cases, the market helps make technology decisions. Higgins cites the ubiquity of JBL speakers in cinemas globally for Deluxe Seward’s choice of that brand for most of its cinema monitoring, including the JBL High Powered Screen Array Cinema system. “We wanted to have high quality audio monitoring with very strong translation into the real world,” he says.

In 2015, most of the Deluxe audio group in Los Angeles moved into Seward, which includes Chace Audio in Burbank, best known for their proprietary restoration processes. “Having our Los Angeles audio groups finally come together into one building gives us a tremendous amount of talent, resources, flexibility, and efficiencies in one location. While we have embraced an all digital workflow, we still provide servicing for over 85 legacy audio formats, which allows us to provide many end-to-end services to customers.” says Higgins.

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 Helps Burt Assembly of God After Devastating Fire

— GC Pro personnel in San Diego and Detroit teamed up to source a new sound system for the International Outreach & Training Center, an integral part of this house of worship in Burt, Michigan, and to act as the interface for the church with its insurance company’s claims adjuster —
WESTLAKE VILLAGE, CA, November 30, 2015 — When the Burt Assembly of God Church’s International Outreach & Training Center was heavily damaged by fire in 2014, the facility, located in Burt, Michigan, faced a devastating loss that also included the center’s music and sound systems. However, the loss was remedied, thanks to the national reach offered by Guitar Center Professional (GC Pro), the business-to-business (B2B) division of Guitar Center providing highly customized service for professional accounts.

GC Pro teams in San Diego, California, and Detroit, Michigan, acted as the interface between the church, still reeling from its loss, and the church’s insurance adjuster, assuring that the systems that needed to be replaced would benefit from the newest technologies and products. GC Pro analyzed the International Outreach & Training Center’s needs and specified a wide range of M.I. and pro audio systems and products, all of which were sourced through GC Pro’s massive inventory. These included a JBL PRX PA system powered by Crown amplifiers and mixed through a Soundcraft Si Expression 2 digital FOH console; Shure wired and wireless microphone systems; Pearl, DW and Zildjian percussion items; and other pro audio and M.I. products. The items were specified by the GC Pro San Diego office, which has had extensive experience dealing with insurance companies and adjustors and was able to help guide the church and the center through the difficult and often-confusing claims process. The eyes on the ground assessing the situation, and later the project manager for the installation of these products and systems, was the GC Pro Detroit office, which called upon HD2 Sound, a member of the GC Pro Affiliates Program, to handle the systems installation and integration.
 
“We worked closely with the church and with their insurance company’s claims adjustment service to determine what they lost, the value of that and the replacement values, as well as what the best replacement products and systems would be,” explains Kevin Hewitt, Account Manager at the GC Pro office in San Diego. “We also worked closely with our office in Detroit, the closest one on the ground to the church. Together, we were able to efficiently and effectively assess the situation and decide what would get them back on their feet.”
 
As Hewitt handled the logistics of the project, Paul Johnson, Account Manager at GC Pro’s Detroit location, handled system design, driving two hours each way to the work site, often several days a week. “When I got there, the building was a total loss,” he recalls. “I became the on-site project manager for the audio systems, measuring during the reconstruction process and letting Kevin know what the dimensions would be. We established timelines for deliveries and installation, coordinating between the insurance company, our vendors, our integrator, the construction crews at the site, and the church and center leaders. It was a huge undertaking, but the church was very excited to see that we could manage their project on a national basis.”

The church leaders quickly realized that GC Pro brings an enormous amount of power — in the form of resources and expertise, as well as our experience with loss claims — to a project. Especially for one like this, where they had suffered such a massive loss, GC Pro was the only provider that could manage this effectively from beginning to end. “Today, the church and the center are back,” says Johnson, “and it was gratifying for all of us at GC Pro to have played such an important role in 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.

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 Professional Helps Strike 10 Roll a Perfect Game

Strike 10 Bowling & Sports Lounge in Hallandale Beach, Florida, featuring fantastic sound and lighting, thanks to Guitar Center Professional and GC Pro Affiliate Program member Automated Interiors Inc.

— The GC Pro location serving south Florida brought its powerful sourcing and Affiliate Program to bear on a novel concept that synthesizes a Miami nightclub with a bowling alley, giving it a South Beach-style touch for sound and lights —
WESTLAKE VILLAGE, CA, June 24, 2015 — Strike 10 Bowling & Sports Lounge is the latest addition to the sleek and sprawling Gulfstream Park in Hallandale Beach, Florida. By day, it’s a family fun center, a hub for children’s birthday parties and bar/bat mitzvah celebrations. At night, it can transform into an experience attraction for adults, with a full bar and DJ booth as well as bowling. But whatever mode it’s in, Strike 10 Bowling & Sports Lounge is awash in fantastic sound and lighting, thanks to Guitar Center Professional (GC Pro), the outside sales division of Guitar Center that focuses on the needs of professional users. The Hallandale office of GC Pro, which serves all of south Florida, brought its huge product-sourcing capability to bear on the sound and lighting for Strike 10, in addition to its Affiliate Program, which matches clients and projects with the most appropriate AVL systems integrators to install and commission those products. In this case, GC Pro brought in Automated Interiors Inc., of Fort Lauderdale, Florida, to install sound equipment, including 44 JBL Control Series ceiling speakers and subwoofers powered by Crown CDI 1000 and CDI 2000 amplifiers, and a large array of lighting including Chauvet® Nexus LED washes and LED displays, a Gobo Shot LED projector and a Rouger moving-head fixture. Live bands will also be able to crank it up at Strike 10 thanks to the comprehensive Acousti-Block sound management materials installed at the lounge.

“Fantastic is the word I would use for how this turned out,” comments Moises Jafif, part-owner of Strike 10 and part of a team that pioneered the bowling alley/lounge concept at several locations in Mexico before bringing it to the U.S. with the 15,000-squre-foot Hallandale site, which opened in March of this year. “The experience of working with GC Pro was spectacular from day one. They really know their stuff.”

Jafif says that while the main components of Strike 10 are the same as the locations in Mexico, he wanted to adapt the theme for the Miami area. That’s where GC Pro came in. Working with sources at HARMAN and Chauvet, as well as Automated Interiors, GC Pro Account Manager Ricardo Cintron-Jimenez chose products that would realize Jafif’s vision for Strike 10. For instance, a key strategic idea was the decision to install all-white furniture, floors and walls — even an all-white bar — which literally creates a blank canvas for the Nexus wash lighting fixtures, allowing the space to change hues and create entirely new environments to fit the moment, whether it’s a kids’ party or late-night ladies-night out. “It’s a unique feature,” says Cintron-Jimenez. “The all-white furniture, bar, floors and walls acquire the color of choice, from the Nexus lighting fixtures, changing the atmosphere at will.” GC Pro also supplied backline equipment for live music and for a DJ booth, which the acoustical treatments will also enhance by controlling the volume.

The bar at Strike 10 Bowling & Sports Lounge in Hallandale Beach, Florida, featuring fantastic sound and lighting, thanks to Guitar Center Professional and GC Pro Affiliate Program member Automated Interiors Inc.

Daniel Roller, President of Automated Interiors, says the project turned out so well thanks in large part to GC Pro’s depth of inventory and access to a wide range of brands. “The client was adamant about wanting Chauvet lighting,” says Roller. “And GC Pro has a huge array of brand choices when it comes to lighting and everything else, so we were able to get the client exactly what they wanted. It’s one of the things about working with them that makes my job easier.” Roller was also enthusiastic about his ongoing relationship with GC Pro’s Affiliate Program. “We’re mutually supportive of each other,” he says. “We find ways to create more value than by working alone, which was evident on this project, which really turned out cool.”

Jafif agrees. “It has the flash you need for Miami,” he says, “And the place sounds as good as it looks. Ricardo was always there for us. He took us to different showrooms so we could check out equipment. We have eleven lanes — the idea is to keep it feeling very exclusive and special, and GC Pro picked out products that were in line with that goal. The customer service was spectacular. We actually became pretty close with the staff at GC Pro.” That’s good, because GC Pro is a national presence and Jafif plans to open additional Strike 10 venues, already scouting locations in the South and the Northeast. “We’re really comfortable with GC Pro, so they’re the ones we’d turn to,” he says.

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.

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.

Phenix City First Assembly of God Looks to GC Pro

WESTLAKE VILLAGE, CA, August 12, 2013 — Guitar Center Professional (GC Pro), the outside sales division of Guitar Center that focuses on the needs of professional users, has built a strong relationship with Jonathan “JT” Thornton, the Worship Pastor at Phenix City First Assembly of God, a “lively, upbeat, encouraging, and Spirit-led” church led by Senior Pastor Barry Danner in Phenix City, on the Alabama-Georgia state line. Thornton has been working closely with Brad Lyons, his Account Manager at the GC Pro office in Atlanta. “I need a trusting relationship with someone who can help me take my church forward, Thornton states. “I found that with GC Pro.”

Brad Lyons and his team worked closely with Thornton over the two years he’s been at the First Assembly of God church, helping him choose an entire new PA system for the main sanctuary, new projectors for the space’s video, and even two Yamaha keyboards for the church’s 10-piece praise band. GC Pro sourced a Yamaha LS9 console, an entire JBL VRX line array system, an Ashly Audio NE24.24 8 X 12 processor, Crown XTi power amplifiers and upgrades to the church’s existing Sennheiser evolution wireless microphone system, as well as BenQ SH960 6,000 lumen Projectors, Kramer VP728 Video Scaler/Switcher and Lyntec PDS-10 Power Sequencing system.

Thornton says there are two key principles that guide him: the need to find the equipment that best fits the church’s needs and that also best fits its budgets. “You need to have the quality that stands up over time and that keeps the church’s AV systems current for as long as possible, but I also have to be a steward of the church’s resources, to allow the technology to best further its evangelical goals in the community,” he explains. “To do that, I need a relationship with someone whom I trust who also knows what our goals are, knows the rooms we have to work in and understands our budget concerns.”

The collaboration with GC Pro has been a good one so far, and Thornton says some additional upgrades are under consideration, including possibly adding in-ear monitoring for the sanctuary stage. And through it all, he will turn to GC Pro: “I do have to do my due diligence and check out different options for equipment,” says Thornton. “You can call around and get quotes all day, but ultimately there are certain people you trust, and for me that someone has been Brad.”

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 and HARMAN Professional Team Up

Boston eatery the Salty Pig, recently upgraded with a new sound system featuring components from HARMAN Professional brands JBL, Crown and dbx, all sourced through GC Pro.

— Boston-area eateries The Salty Pig, Canary Square and Trade get new indoor and outdoor sound systems specified and sourced by GC Pro to assure maximum integrated performance —
WESTLAKE VILLAGE, CA, December 5, 2012 — In today’s “foodie” culture, every new restaurant needs to immediately establish its own distinct look and feel, but also ensure that the customer experience there will be top notch. Where can three very different kinds of restaurants go to make certain that they have the best AV system design and components for their specific styles? Guitar Center Professional (GC Pro), the outside sales division of Guitar Center that focuses on the needs of professional users, was able to answer that question definitively for a trio of new establishments in the Boston area. GC Pro drew upon its depth of resources, such as access to the full array of audio systems solutions from HARMAN Professional, to supply these three restaurants with sound systems that perfectly match their particular styles and are helping them each make their mark with their unique audiences.

At the Salty Pig, GC Pro Senior Account Executive PK Pandey designed a sound system that provides full-range music reproduction and intelligible paging with no compromises for either task. “The challenge here was the many hard, highly reflective surfaces, including wood and tiled floors and table tops,” explains Pandey, who assembled a system that uses seven JBL Control Series C67P/T pendant-type speakers, two JBL SB210 subwoofers, five JBL Control 24C ceiling speakers, along with a JBL CBT 50LA columnar line array on the restaurant’s outdoor patio, powered by Crown XLS 2000 and XLS 1000 amplifiers, and managed by a dbx 1260m zone controller. As critical as the audio equipment components was the Auralex acoustical treatment that Pandey also sourced for the design. “In addition to the highly directional speakers we used, we needed a lot of absorption around the dining areas to enable the sound be present and very clear,” he explains. “The results were excellent.”

Boston eatery Canary Square, recently upgraded with a new sound system featuring components from HARMAN Professional brands JBL, Crown and dbx, all sourced through GC Pro. Pictured is JBL C67 P/T pendant speaker.

Boston eatery Trade Boston, recently upgraded with a new sound system featuring components from HARMAN Professional brands JBL, Crown and dbx, all sourced through GC Pro.
In fact, the sound was so good that the Salty Pig’s owners asked GC Pro to work their same magic for their other restaurant, Canary Square, where Pandey redesigned the sound systems to include a dozen JBL C67 P/T pendants and four CBT 50LA line arrays on the outdoor dining patio, powered by Crown XLS 2000 and XLS 1000 amplifiers, and managed by a dbx ZonePro 1261m controller with ZC9 and ZC1 remotes. “The problems they were having at Canary Square were volume level and intelligibility – the same issues we were able to successfully tackle at the Salty Pig,” says Pandey, who also used carefully-aligned acoustical treatment panels to minimize reflections and maximize intelligibility, allowing the music to be present without being overpowering.

Trade, another trendy Boston-area eatery, called on GC Pro after experiencing the exceptional sound of the Salty Pig. “The owners of Trade liked the way we used the speakers to enhance the architectural/aesthetic appearance at the other restaurants,” Pandey says. “This was of primary importance to them, as well as great sound. We worked closely with the architect on the project to achieve both goals.” For Trade, GC Pro specified 10 JBL C67 P/T pendant speakers, eight JBL 226C/T ceiling speakers and a JBL SB210 sub, powered by Crown CTs 3000 and XLS 1500 amplifiers and managed by six dbx ZonePro 1261m controllers with ZC9 and ZC1 remotes.

These are just three of the numerous, recent restaurant projects where GC Pro has been able to help deliver great sound in challenging situations. “We can offer them what no one else can – access to great equipment, like the technology from HARMAN Professional, as well as system designs that are within the client’s budget, flexible installation options and project management from start to finish,” says Pandey. “We understand what our clients are attempting to accomplish, and we become their partners in helping to achieve 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.

GC Pro Helps Pentecostal Church Assembly of God

— Growing church had to move to larger quarters across the street, and GC Pro made sure that it was ready for them when it came to sound —
WESTLAKE VILLAGE, CA, November 16, 2012 — The Pentecostal Church Assembly of God in Trenton, New Jersey, had the kind of problem many churches pray for: they just keep on growing. Fortunately for this congregation, a former house of worship became available right across the street. Having also been used as a school, the main sanctuary had been converted into a gymnasium, and Assembly of God ventured to convert it back into a worship space. This was certainly a blessing for the church’s membership, but a lot more space to fill in terms of sound. That’s when they called on Guitar Center Professional (GC Pro), the outside sales division of Guitar Center that focuses on the needs of professional users, which brought to bear the huge range of services that only GC Pro can offer.

With GC Pro Senior Account Manager Billy Walker coordinating the effort, JBL Professional engineers were called upon to provide analysis and design based on drawings by Malvicino Design Group, a Forest Hills, New York-based GC Pro Affiliate Services Program member. Working with GC Pro personnel, the JBL Professional engineers created several sound system designs for the church’s executive board to consider. Then, GC Pro called upon Horacio Malvicino, Managing Director of the Malvicino Design Group, for further design consultation and to install and tune the JBL VerTec and VRX line array PA systems, as well as the Midas Pro 2 FOH console, that the church had decided upon. The project was finished in August 2012.

Deciding on a complex and costly new sound system can be a trying proposition for any church, and GC Pro has as much or more experience in the HOW sector of pro audio than any other retailer in the world. Knowing how crucial this decision would be for the church, Walker arranged with local JBL rep firm Sigmet Corp. to host a demo of the JBL VerTec system at the Strand-Capitol Performing Arts Center in nearby York, Pennsylvania, so the church leaders could see, hear and experience the systems first hand.

“PA systems aren’t just about the sound, though that’s their most important aspect,” Walker explains. “They also have to have certain visual elements -- they have to be able to blend in well with the rest of the church’s interior, and when they are seen they have to look good. Bob Reuther at Sigmet arranged for us to have a night at the Strand to ourselves, and the church could get all the time they needed seeing and hearing the JBL PA systems, until they felt comfortable with them.”

And they did. After the church made its decision, the Malvicino Design Group began the installation process, using the VerTec enclosures for the two main line array hangs and the VRX boxes for delay fills for the rear of the new larger church. “That’s the kind of comprehensive service we can bring to the HOW market,” says Walker. “We have the ability to source systems from many manufacturers, help churches pick the ones that are best for their needs, and even provide installation and integration services in a seamless, one-stop manner. It’s the best way to make the customer comfortable for a big purchase like this.”

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 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.

Santa Monica Place Mall Gets Top-Flight Sound

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

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

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

Santa Monica Place’s new Soundcraft Vi1 console, sourced through GC Pro.
The entire collection of equipment, including the stage, is designed to be stored when not in use and set up as needed. This, says GC Pro Account Manager Josh Dawkins, who specified the products and handled the sale, gives the mall’s operation management more flexibility and offers them the opportunity to recoup some of the capital cost of the equipment through rentals. “They can rent the space and the sound system as a package, which makes it very attractive to potential users,” he says.

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

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

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

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About Guitar Center Professional/Guitar Center
Founded in 2001, Guitar Center Professional is the outside sales division of Guitar Center that focuses on the needs of professional users. Its clientele includes recording studios, audio engineers, producers, recording and touring musicians, live sound venues, post production facilities and more. Emphasizing extraordinary individualized service via local account managers, GC Pro offers expert consultation and a comprehensive selection of the world’s finest equipment for music and audio professionals. More information on GC Pro can be found by visiting www.gcpro.com.

Culture Club Opens New Location

The first floor of Culture Club, a hip 1980s-themed New York City dance club, featuring state-of-the-art lighting and P.A. systems sourced through GC Pro.

— Located in the heart of Midtown Manhattan, the new Culture Club location features 16,000 square feet and four floors of powerful dance club sound and lighting, all sourced through GC Pro —

WESTLAKE VILLAGE, CA, April 9, 2012 — Guitar Center Professional (GC Pro), the outside sales division of Guitar Center that focuses on the needs of professional users, recently worked closely with Culture Club, a hip 1980s-themed New York City dance club, to supply state-of-the-art lighting and P.A. systems (as well as other gear), as it moved from its original location downtown to its new club in Midtown Manhattan. Culture Club owners Robert Watman and Najib Succar turned to GC Pro for loudspeakers from JBL; amplifiers from Crown; mixing consoles from Soundcraft; lighting from Antari and Elation Professional; DJ products from Denon, Rane and Pioneer; and a full host of equipment from several other manufacturers.

The new location, on 20 West 39th Street between 5th and 6th Avenues, opened late in 2011, and features four stories and 16,000 square feet of floor space. “It’s a very, very large dance club,” noted Co-Owner Robert Watman. “Each of the club’s four floors hosts a separate DJ with a distinct playlist. Each system is on its own floor and there’s no bleed, so if you’re on the second floor, you don’t hear what’s happening on the other floors. So you can imagine that a lot had to go into consideration. This is a brand new space that needed tons of gear, and we wanted to do it right. We wanted to make sure the P.A. was a killer system, and that it would be able to handle the amount and volume of music that it would be pumping out every night. So we turned to GC Pro, who became our one-stop vendor for the amplifiers, speakers, DJ mixers and turntables, lighting – everything, really.”

Among the hundreds of items sourced through GC Pro were several dozen JBL loudspeakers, including PRX612M, Control 29AV, ASB6125 and AM51212/95 modules; lighting equipment from Elation Professional, including EES487 spotlights and Design Wash LED 60 units; acoustic treatment from Auralex; Crown XLS2500 and XLS1500 Amplifiers; and much more. DJ equipment included Serato Rane SL 2 for Scratch Live, Pioneer CDJ-850 Performance Multi Players, and Denon DJ DNX500 Professional Rack DJ Mixers.

Watman is longtime personal friends with Guitar Center Manhattan store manager Judd Goldrich, who was happy to connect them the GC Pro staff as well as work closely with GC Pro personnel to augment the sound system with ancillary DJ and M.I. products and accessories. Watman recalls, “They came over, and for what they were offering in terms of a turnkey solution, they definitely came in at the right price. It was a good fit. We ended up acquiring a massive number of JBL P.A. products. It was that and lighting – intelligent lighting, LEDs, spotlights and washes. It was the right gear at the right price.”

Co-owner Najib Succar adds, “We’ve been in the club business for a long time, and had a distinct division when we were planning the new Culture Club. Working with GC Pro and Guitar Center, our vision became a reality. But the bottom line is, Culture Club has become a destination. Our patrons are from not only the tri-state area, but from around the country and abroad. They continue to come back, week after week, for the Culture Club experience.”

“It was great working with Robert and Najib to help make their concept of Culture Club a reality,” stated Judd Goldrich. “I have known Robert for most of my life, so on a personal level, Culture Club has a very special meaning to me. We want all of our customers to be happy and succeed, and this is probably one of the best examples of helping out a friend, and now we have a customer for life.”

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.