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.

Helping Light the Gas Monkey Bar N’ Grill

— Martin Lighting’s new Rush Series of cost-effective LED fixtures makes this barbecue-and-music destination a real Discovery —
You wanted cast-off hot cars brought back to life before your very eyes? Gas Monkey Garage proprietor Richard Rawlings’ reality-TV hit Fast N’ Loud has done exactly that for four seasons on the Discovery Channel. You wanted to chow down on Texas brisket in a place like that? Rawlings brought the Gas Monkey Bar N’ Grill, his Dallas barbecue emporium and live-music destination, to life last year. The Gas Monkey Bar N’ Grill combines two of reality television’s biggest draws — food and cars — into a major-league music venue with world-class sound, video and lights, with all systems designed and installed through GC Pro’s Dallas office.

What touring artists like Anvil and Uncle Kracker — both of whom visited the club this year — will find at GMBG, as the place has come to be known, is rider-ready equipment such as the 180-degree, 32,000-watt D.A.S. Aero line array sound system capable of hitting 121 dB and composed of two Aero 40A cabinets, four WR6412DX weatherized enclosures, a dozen D.A.S. Road low-profile monitors and two D.A.S. Avant 118 subwoofers. These cover an outdoor concert area that can hold as many as 1,500 people. Inside, eight D.A.S. Aero 8A compact line array columns and four D.A.S. LX215 subwoofers keep crowds in the 19,000-square-foot dining space amply entertained. Music is mixed through a Behringer X32 FOH console indoors and a Midas Pro 2 digital desk outdoors.

Hot Lights
Matching the sound is world-class lighting, with one of the first major installations of Martin Lighting’s new Rush Series of products. These include six Rush MH1 profile moving-head LED fixtures, six Rush MH2 wash moving-head LED fixtures, and four Rush MH3 beam moving-head fixtures. These and other fixtures are controlled through a Martin M1 lighting console with a built in folding touchscreen. The emphasis on LED lighting is what makes GMBG as flexible as it needs to be — you never know when Rawlings and company will show up with cameras ready to show that barbecue is done and the joint is rocked.

But lighting of this level of sophistication wasn’t this readily accessible or this affordable before Martin’s Rush Series became available last year through GC Pro. “This is a great match: Martin’s Rush and GC Pro,” observes Greg Jones, senior manager for installation products for the Harman Pro Group, which acquired Martin Lighting in 2013. Martin Rush fixtures hit a home run with target markets such as small to mid-sized venues like GMBG that need sophisticated LED and moving-head fixtures. The Martin brand and reputation is recognizable and acceptable to compete for national touring acts, and with the NEW RUSH line by Martin it is now possible to keep costs reasonable. They’re a perfect fit, too, for GC Pro’s broad market that ranges from small cafés to large clubs that can handle national concert acts and more.

“We were originally contacted by one of GC’s Lighting Champions, GC Pro Account manager Jeff McDaniels, who brought this opportunity to the table,” says Jones. “Sometimes timing is everything. With the recent launch of the Martin RUSH Line, the new Partnership between Martin and GC and the fact that GMBG was looking for a professional system that delivered and met every expectation, it all seemed to fall into place. We are very excited to work with the likes of Jeff and the rest of the GC Pro team on many projects to come. If GMBG is an example of what’s ahead then who wouldn’t be!” GMBG was also sold on the Martin Rush two-tear warranty. Alex Mendonsa, General Manager of the Gas Monkey Bar N’ Grill and a veteran of high-profile multi-use venues (having managed the House of Blues in Las Vegas), knows the value that products like Martin Rush can bring to a complex AVL project. “It’s been a seamless experience, thanks to GC Pro, and GC Pro Affiliate Program Member Trinity Group International, which also installed the audio components,” Mendonsa notes, though he adds that there were plenty of twists and turns. “For instance, we had to raise the roof on the stage, and we needed custom trussing fabricated for it. No problem for GC Pro. They got us out of a pinch on several occasions.”

Jones says that the Martin Rush Series fixtures are at the leading edge of a revolution in entertainment lighting, not unlike what the advent of affordable digital audio technology has been for music recording and production. “LED technology is exponentially making lighting better, replacing the discharge systems that had been the standard for decades. LED has allowed an option that is lower in weight and power consumption, smaller in size, and affordable without sacrificing features. With products like Rush that really leverage the power and price-performance of LED, we’ve got a whole new market of venues, like Gas Monkey Bar N’ Grill, open to us. And through GC Pro, we now also have a way to find them. Instead of clubs having to wait until they were working on a national level to be able to afford Martin lighting, now Martin can be their first lighting system and follow them as they expand. GC Pro has become our gateway into that market.”

As it turns out, the Gas Monkey Bar N’ Grill has been greenlit for its own reality-TV pilot on the Discovery Channel. And thanks to GC Pro, the club has the entire package it needs to make Gas Monkey Bar N’ Grill as ready to rock as it is to cook.

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 Braza Dancante Restaurant

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

GC Pro and Greenhill School

The gymnasium at Greenhill School in Addison, Texas, pictured with QSC WideLine line array modules sourced through GC Pro and installed by integrator Trinity Group International.

— Greenhill School in Addison, Texas, needed a sound system makeover quickly for a 9/11 observance ceremony, and GC Pro was able to do the job right, quickly and efficiently —
WESTLAKE VILLAGE, CA, September 24, 2012 — Greenhill School, founded in 1950 and whose 14 buildings are situated on 75 acres in Addison, Texas, places a good deal of emphasis on both athletics and civics, so a scheduled memorial ceremony for the anniversary of 9/11 was important to students, teachers and parents. However, the sound system in the school’s gymnasium wasn’t up to the task anymore. But Guitar Center Professional (GC Pro), the outside sales division of Guitar Center that focuses on the needs of professional users, was able to fix that, and quickly, too. Once GC Pro’s team had evaluated the situation, made their recommendations and bid, and brought in a member of their GC Pro Affiliate Services Program as the systems integrator, the new sound system was put up and in place within a single day, ready for the observance ceremony. Integrator Trinity Group International installed a GC Pro-provided QSC WideLine line array sound system consisting of two hangs each with subs attached below.

“The show went off without a hitch, in part because the installation was done so quickly and so well,” recalls Jeffery McDaniel, Senior Account Manager based at the GC Pro office in Dallas, Texas. McDaniel notes that Trinity’s installers were able to access the school a day earlier to run cabling and establish hang points, prepping the job site for what would be a record-time one-day installation of the entire sound system. “It’s a pretty big system, but as soon as the purchase order came through, we and Trinity were on it, because we knew how important this event was going to be for them.”

McDaniel says that Greenhill School received several bids on the project, and ultimately awarded the job to GC Pro. The school’s IT director made the decision to go with GC Pro because, as McDaniel puts it, “They simply had more faith in us, that we could do it in time and with the right equipment that would last them a long time into the future. I’d say they made the right decision.”

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 Part of Texas Church’s Ongoing Upgrades

Assembly of Yahweh 7th Day near Cisco, Texas, featuring upgraded AV sourced through GC Pro and installed by Affiliate Program member Malvicino Design Group.

— GC Pro has been regularly working with the Assembly of Yahweh 7th Day near Cisco, Texas, and after providing systems and installation services for the church’s most recent AV upgrades, it’s now in the plans to build a dedicated recording studio —
WESTLAKE VILLAGE, CA, September 20, 2012 — The last three years have been busy ones for the Assembly of Yahweh 7th Day near Cisco, Texas, and the Dallas-area office of Guitar Center Professional (GC Pro), the outside sales division of Guitar Center that focuses on the needs of professional users. In that time, GC Pro has helped the church and its pastor, Farris Wilks, and his family build a recording studio at the Wilks’ home in Cisco and significantly upgrade the church’s AV. In 2011, after initial plans, GC Pro contracted Horacio Malvicino, Managing Director of the Malvicino Design Group, a Forest Hills, New York-based GC Pro Affiliate Services Program member, for design and construction of the studio. GC Pro sourced and supplied technology including a 32-channel Neve Genesys digitally controlled analog console, an Avid D-Command, a Pro Tools HD system and an Ocean Way HR2 monitoring system. After the studio was finished, GC Pro then was asked to update the church’s AV systems.

In 2012, GC Pro brought in GC Pro Affiliate Services Program member Omnicoustics, based in McKinney, Texas, to install new Robe and Chauvet lighting systems; Panasonic video cameras and live-video switcher; a NewTek Tricaster video switcher for recorded video content for post production applications; and Eiki video projectors.

Jeffery McDaniel, GC Pro Senior Account Manager, says this is the second major systems upgrade that GC Pro has done for Assembly of Yahweh 7th Day – In 2010, GC Pro upgraded the church’s sound system with a JBL Array Series system paired with an Avid VENUE SC48 digital live sound console and an Avid Pro Tools LE system, as well as a new complement of microphones, a new Aviom in-ear monitor system for the church band, and other related equipment -- and it underscores the kind of relationship that GC Pro has with many of its customers. “We come to know our customers pretty well, because so many of them are repeat customers,” he says. “We have a pretty good idea of what their needs are and how best to meet them.”

Another reason that GC Pro clients are so loyal is the lengths the GC Pro staff is willing to go for them. When it turned out that the dongle sourced for the new lighting system didn’t have the right amount of channels, McDaniel set out to find one that did, working under an extreme deadline. The only vendor who had what they needed was in Canada. As the event for which the lighting controller would be critical drew near, McDaniel told the Canadian supplier to use FedEx’s premium same-day delivery service – the supplier got the new dongle to their local airport at 11 a.m. the same day, and it arrived at FedEx’s freight station at Dallas-Ft. Worth Airport that same evening. McDaniel then drove it the three hours to Cisco, arriving at 11 p.m., and had it ready to use for the church’s worship service the next morning. McDaniel also helped participate in their first service, running their newly purchased computer program to display the music’s lyrics. “Whatever it takes to make it work for the customer, that’s what we’re willing to do to make it happen,” says McDaniel.

That same philosophy will apply to the new recording studio, named Seven Pillars Studios, that GC Pro will help design, build and equip, for a planned opening in 2013. Much of the equipment that GC Pro provided for the Wilks’ home studio will migrate to the new facility, which is also being designed and commissioned by the Malvicino Design Group, and which will feature two control rooms around a single large tracking room, with an SSL AWS948 console in the B studio. “We really get to know our clients,” says McDaniel. “And they really get to know us, which means they know we’ll be there for them year in and year out.”

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.