WheelPower Studio Biking Fitness Center (Deerfield, IL)

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Installations, System Upgrades at Chicago-Area Restaurants

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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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.

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.

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.

Gloria’s Latin Cuisine Gets Immersive AVL

The exterior of the newly renovated Addison, Texas location of Gloria’s Latin Cuisine, featuring immersive AVL sourced through Guitar Center Professional. Photo courtesy of Custom Audio Video Services. © 2015.

— Gloria’s Latin Cuisine has been reinventing itself to accommodate changes in the hospitality culture, and GC Pro has been there providing the AVL technology it needs to stay at the leading edge of the business —

WESTLAKE VILLAGE, CA, June 4, 2015 — It began in 1988 as Gloria’s Restaurant, a single outpost in Dallas offering the authentic Tex-Mex and Salvadoran comidas envisioned by Gloria and Jose Fuentes, newly minted American citizens with an entrepreneurial dream. That dream has now grown to 15 locations and has been re-conceived as Gloria’s Latin Cuisine, with the re-opening last year of a newly renovated restaurant in Addison, Texas. And for the past several years, the new stores have been able to take Gloria’s brand to the next level, utilizing AVL technology and design input from Guitar Center Professional (GC Pro), the outside sales division of Guitar Center that focuses on the needs of professional users, and which has become a strong partner with Gloria’s as the company has evolved.

Like several of its other recently opened locations, the newly renovated Addison restaurant serves many different kinds of customers, as a family restaurant during the week and as a dance club on the weekends. A DAS Audio active sound system is also fitted with a pair of DAS LX215A subwoofers that assure a pumping dance floor, and they’re just as capable of being the gentle background sound system for the restaurant during meal times. Martin MH1 Profile moving-head light fixtures, X-Laser X-Beam 2500 and an Ultratec Radiance hazer make for a great dance experience on weekends, while the self-powered sound system helps keep cabling to a minimum, assuring a clean, sleek look to the restaurant. All of the audio, lighting and projection products used in the new Gloria’s location, as well as in three new Texas locations in South Lake, Flower Mound and Las Colinas that are slated to open in the near future, were sourced through GC Pro, and Jeffery McDaniel, Senior Account Manager at the Dallas GC Pro office, provided design help and systems advice.

“We first met with Jose and Gloria at the original Addison location about four years ago,” recalls McDaniel. “They were having problems getting their sound and lighting evenly distributed throughout the restaurant. They’re using recorded and live music, and getting even coverage at the right volume levels takes the right equipment being installed properly, and we were able to provide that for them. That was the beginning of what has become an ongoing and growing relationship as we help Gloria’s expand throughout the region.”

The dining room of the newly renovated Addison, Texas location of Gloria’s Latin Cuisine, featuring immersive AVL sourced through Guitar Center Professional. Photo courtesy of Custom Audio Video Services. © 2015.

On weekends, the newly renovated Addison, Texas location of Gloria’s Latin Cuisine, reinvents itself as a dance club, featuring immersive AVL sourced through Guitar Center Professional. Photo courtesy of Custom Audio Video Services. © 2015.

The bar area of the newly renovated Addison, Texas location of Gloria’s Latin Cuisine, featuring immersive AVL sourced through Guitar Center Professional. Photo courtesy of Custom Audio Video Services. © 2015.

Joe Ramos, Owner & Founder of Custom Audio Video Services, a premier audio and video company that services its home base city of Dallas as well as Houston, Austin and surrounding areas, says a key part of his mission was to make sure that the sound, video and lighting were well integrated into the restaurant’s aesthetic design. “You really wouldn’t notice any of the hardware footprint during the day, but at night, the sound and lighting, come alive, and so does the club,” he says. “Jeff and GC Pro were a great fit for this project. Their collaborative efforts proved helpful in many ways as they provided keen insight into the best products. For instance, they chose the sound system in part to make sure the DJ booth fits into the space well. And now that Gloria’s has been introducing a new look, with lots of new colors, they’ve been helping me pick the elements that best support the new look. Gloria’s is growing and improving, thanks in part to GC Pro, and Custom Audio Video Services is right there with 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.

Guitar Center Professional Helps Outfit Cycle Scene

Ashburn, Virginia’s Cycle Scene features installed sound and lighting systems worthy of a high-end nightclub, designed by and sourced through Guitar Center Professional. Photo by Jonah Joffe, GC Pro. © 2015.

— State-of-the-art audio and lighting components provide patrons with an immersive “club” experience, setting the facility apart from other area fitness establishments —
WESTLAKE VILLAGE, CA, March 26, 2015 — Cycle Scene put a new “spin” on the indoor cycling studio when it opened in Ashburn, Virginia, at the beginning of March with installed sound and lighting systems worthy of a high-end nightclub. Designed by and sourced through Guitar Center Professional (GC Pro), the outside sales division of Guitar Center that focuses on the needs of professional users, the equipment was installed and programmed by Angelo Kokkinakos of GC Pro affiliate Koko Brothers Entertainment, a Baltimore, Maryland-based audio, video and lighting design and integration firm.

“The spin industry is blowing up now, and every cycle studio has to be hotter than the next one to capture market share in the area,” explains Jonah Joffe, GC Pro Account Manager at Guitar Center in Falls Church, Virginia. Joffe worked with Cycle Scene owners Clay and Jenn Sharman to create the right vibe at the new 6,000-square-foot high-tech fitness facility. “These folks were going for a dance club in a cycle studio, so it was super important that we got the audio and lighting right.”

The Cycle Room, outfitted with 60 custom-built stationary bikes, features two 75-inch display monitors, each flanked by a pair of QSC Audio AcousticDesign AD-S12 600W surface mount speakers that each house a 12-inch woofer and 1.4-inch compression driver. A single QSC KW181 18-inch self-powered subwoofer adds low frequency extension to the system. The Stretch Room, dedicated to strength training, core fitness and yoga, is outfitted with a pair of QSC AD-C821 8-inch, 200W ceiling speakers, while a smaller QSC AD-Ci52T two-way speaker, featuring a 5.25-inch woofer with 1-inch tweeter, is installed in the reception area. Four QSC AD-S6T surface mount cabinets, each incorporating a 6-inch woofer and 1-inch dome tweeter, cover the extensive hallway, a popular gathering place. Two QSC four-channel amplifiers—one PLD4.2 and one PLD4.3—provide power to the passive speakers.

A Rane HAL1x 16 in/16 out multi-processor is installed for optimization and management of the facility’s multi-zoned sound system. “I got to experience HAL for the first time,” says Angelo Kokkinakos. “We did all of the dynamic processing and EQ inside of HAL. It’s a great tool; we were really happy with it.”

The system is controlled by Rane Digital Remote DR1 and DR3 wall panels installed in each of the three zones together with connector panels enabling the introduction of external audio sources. “The user interface is just so simple, with a keypad and a simple LCD display to select your input source and volume,” says Kokkinakos. “The end user just has a single rotary knob to increase or decrease volume for the mic—it doesn’t get much easier than that.”

A pair of Shure SLX14 wireless systems, with UA221 antenna combiner, and SM31FH Fitness headsets are available for Cycle Scene’s instructors. The HAL DR remote interfaces are so intuitive that the instructors can focus on their jobs without having to learn how to operate a complex audio system, says Joffe. “Each source selection and volume knob has a digital readout, so we made it really, really easy—it says: Headset Mic 1, Headset Mic 2, Music. Anyone can use this system very easily. Not only that, because of all the processing we’ve got behind it, it sounds incredible in there.”

To meet the expectations of the owners, says Joffe, “We went with Chauvet moving head lights—just like dance clubs use, but in a smaller version, and we had Angelo do custom programming so it would look just like a dance club. The client is super happy with the lighting.”

The Chauvet DMX-addressable light fixtures installed in the Cycle Room include two Intimidator Spot LED 250 50W moving head units and two LFS-75DMX 75W LED framing spots. All four fixtures are suspended from two 12-ft. box truss spans, which are each illuminated by two SlimPAR Quad 3 IRC four-color LED lamp. A total of 18 COLORband 3 IRC three-zone LED strip lights provide a wash down the rear and side walls. A Numark Orbit Wi-Fi panel combined with a Chauvet Xpress 512 PLUS interface controls the lighting rig, which was programmed using Chauvet’s ShowXpress software. All control components are neatly housed in an electronics machine room hidden away from the general public, providing a more aesthetic look to the installation.

“We don’t usually see a lot of moving head fixtures in these cycle rooms,” comments Kokkinakos. “But when we programmed the lighting rack it came down to subtle, slow, simple, predictable movement along the walls, keeping it off the bikes, and making it more of an atmosphere than a distraction. When we first revealed the lighting to the client, they were thinking that they would leave all the fluorescent ceiling lights on all the time in there. But when they saw the effect, they said, ‘This is plenty of ambient lighting for us to conduct a class in here, and such a great atmosphere, why would we ever turn the other lights on?’ Pretty much the only time they turn the other lights on now is just to clean the room.”

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

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

GC Pro Outfits St. Andrew’s Presbyterian Church

A worship band performs at St. Andrew’s Presbyterian Church, in Newport Beach, California. Visible in background are two new DaLite 10x13-foot screens, sourced through GC Pro, along with four Panasonic PTDZ21KU 3-Chip DLP projectors (not pictured).

— As an authorized Panasonic dealer, GC Pro sourced the high-end projectors and screens necessary to overcome a large amount of natural light in the church’s sanctuary —

— GC Pro’s Affiliates Program, which matches each project with the right AV systems integrator, found the church the right installer partners in FirstFire AV and subcontractor Olsen AV, Inc. —
WESTLAKE VILLAGE, CA, February 5, 2014 — St. Andrew’s Presbyterian Church, in Newport Beach, California, obviously aims for its members “seeing the light” as a primary goal. However, on account of the space’s terrarium roof, the church’s sanctuary is often filled with bright natural light all day long. That created a problem for viewing the church’s video content that plays during services. Guitar Center Professional (GC Pro), the outside sales division of Guitar Center that focuses on the needs of professional users, came to the rescue.

Drawing on the wide array of high-end projector products now available to GC Pro since having been named an authorized Panasonic dealer in 2013, GC Pro Account Managers assessed the situation and determined that a solution could be found in two new DaLite 10x13-foot screens lit by a total of four Panasonic PTDZ21KU 3-Chip DLP projectors, achieving 40,000 lumens per side, more than enough to cut through the bright Southern California sunshine. “We have most of our services in the daytime, and with so much light inside the church from our glass ceiling, it can be a challenge getting the screens to be readable,” says Dustin Laemmlen, the church’s Director of Production. "We wanted to achieve a real cinematic effect for our testimonials and announcements, so we needed to find a way to increase the necessary contrast.”

Church leadership wondered whether projection of LED displays would work best, and GC Pro set up demonstrations on site at the church of both types for comparisons. Once it was determined that dual-stacked projectors were the best solution, GC Pro Affiliate Program member FirstFire AV was assigned the installation phase of the project, with Olsen AV, Inc., of Fontana, California, engaged as the installation subcontractor for the projects.

“There is a huge amount of ambient light inside the church that would not have made for a good viewing experience without the projectors that GC Pro were able to source,” says Arthur Olsen, Operations Manager at Olsen AV. “GC Pro was able to make sure we had everything we needed, including custom projector lenses, the mounting hardware for the screens and the custom enclosures from Panasonic that enabled us to mount two projectors atop each other per side, as well as over 300 feet of cabling for all of the projectors. The images are crisp and clear, even in the bright sunlight inside the church.”

GC Pro also coordinated with Panasonic Sales Engineer Randy Moreau on the installation, to provide exact alignment for all four of the projectors. “Everything was pretty much where we needed it, when we needed it,” says Olsen, “and if there was a question, GC Pro was there to answer it.”

Laemmlen adds, “Our experience with GC Pro was super smooth. What they can do that most other vendors cannot is really search out the absolutely best solutions and be able to negotiate pricing directly with the manufacturers. We even had Panasonic corporate right here at the church.”

Olsen notes that all parties will be back at the church to renovate the sanctuary’s podium area and install even larger projection screens. “We’re looking forward to working with GC Pro again on that,” 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.

GC Pro Helps Southwestern Oklahoma State University

The auditorium at Southwestern Oklahoma State University’s Fine Arts Center, recently outfitted with new lighting technologies from GC Pro.

— Lighting products from brands including Martin, Elation and Lightronics are
part of a large upgrade package sourced by GC Pro that will help keep this theater
a versatile hub for the community and the state —
WESTLAKE VILLAGE, CA, November 13, 2012 — Southwestern Oklahoma State University’s Fine Arts Center has become one of the cultural hubs of the region around Oklahoma City. Intended primarily for the support of university-sponsored activities, the auditorium is designed to serve not only as an instructional facility, but also as a cultural center for the development of quality activities for Western Oklahoma, providing, as its mission statement proclaims, “…diversity in cultural experiences, and developing awareness of and appreciation for the rich cultural heritage of the region.” But the Center’s lighting grew less-than-adequate over the years, failing to keep pace with the changes in lighting technology, such as the introduction of LED light fixtures over the last decade. However, that situation has been entirely remedied, thanks to new equipment and technologies sourced by Guitar Center Professional (GC Pro), the outside sales division of Guitar Center that focuses on the needs of professional users.

Among the new systems purchased by the University from GC Pro are an MA grandMA2 ultra-light lighting console, 20 Martin Stagebar 2 Long RGBW fixtures, 12 Elation Platinum Wash ZFX PRO fixtures, three Lightronics AC-1109 8-scene push-button scene remote stations, eight Lightronics RA-122 12-channel 2400-watt dimmers, and a Tripp-Lite SR42UB Smart Rack. It’s a lighting systems array that will light up the Center’s performances, which range from the school’s ballet and dance companies to touring theatrical productions and other performance arts. “The old lighting systems just bit the dust,” says Kyle Bartel, Director of the Fine Arts Center. “It was time to upgrade, and GC Pro had what we needed.”

David Almanza, Sales at GC Pro’s office in Oklahoma City, says the Center’s wish list included a new grandMA console, which several regional suppliers simply couldn’t source in time for the University’s needs, with new shows scheduled for the start of the new school year. Almanza called dozens of vendors around the country, seeking both availability and price. And the console was originally supposed to take weeks if not months to get. “We had one on the way here in less then a week,” he says. The same applied to other products. For instance, the manufacturer said that Elation’s moving-head fixtures were back-ordered for as much as two months, but Almanza was able to call on his supply chain to get them delivered within two days. “GC Pro has huge resources,” he explains. “That results not only in competitive pricing but also the ability to obtain a breadth of products that is second to none. That’s why customers come to us and stay with us.”

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

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

Perry Hall Family Worship Center

The new Perry Hall Family Worship Center, which features A/V and lighting gear from GC Pro.

WESTLAKE VILLAGE, CA, January 9, 2012 — The Perry Hall Family Worship Center has finally found a home of its own. After years of saving up contributions as they worshiped from the basement of Pastor Dominic Correlli, Sr., they were able in 2010 to begin construction on their new facility in the suburban Baltimore area. And thanks to the ability of their technology partner in the project, Guitar Center Professional (GC Pro), the outside sales division of Guitar Center that focuses on the needs of professional users, the Perry Hall Family Worship Center was able to realize all of their audio, video and lighting hopes on budget and on schedule.

The church’s new sound system consists of eight QSC WL2082-i dual ILA speaker cabinets and a pair of QSC WL118-sw subwoofers, controlled through a QSC SC28 2X8 System Controller. Other key pieces of equipment include QSC PLX3602 and PLX3102 power amplifiers, an Aviom A-16 input module, lighting systems from American DJ including PAR 64 fixtures and Elation DMX 4-channel dimmer rack, BenQ DLP projector and DaLite 108 X 144-inch projection screen. All of the systems were designed and sourced by GC Pro, and the installation and systems integration was accomplished by KoKo Brothers, one of the certified members in GC Pro’s highly successful national Affiliates program.

The Perry Hall Family Worship Center celebrated its tenth anniversary as a congregation in 2011. The church is a part of the Dove Christian Fellowship International network, which has over 80 churches internationally. Mitchell Shaivitz, the GC Pro Account Manager who serves the Mid-Atlantic region’s professional audio and video needs from GC Pro’s Baltimore location, says the project needed GC Pro’s expertise and guidance. “The design called for a very high ceiling, so we’d need a PA system that had good throw characteristics as well as good dispersion, and that could provide that kind of performance at a reasonable cost,” he says. “The QSC ILA system was a great choice for that. And the church leaders said that they wanted the church to be able to keep up with its growth, so we made sure to design in the ability to expand the systems as needed, such as the choice of the Aviom A16 input module, which we can add additional I/Os to as necessary in the future. The entire design was intended to meet the church’s budget while giving them the best possible technology for their money and the ability to let the systems also meet any future requirements as they grew.”

John Correlli, Pastor Dominic Correlli’s son and the church’s Director of Multimedia, says that the experience of working with GC Pro was exceptional. “We gave them a budget and they worked closely with us,” Correlli recalls, noting that when the original proposal called for several lighting fixtures that would push the costs over budget, GC Pro was able to find substitute products that lowered the costs substantially yet offered similar performance. “They were able to save us as much as $17,000 just in lighting,” he estimates. Correlli is equally impressed with the performance of GC Pro’s Affiliate Program partner. “They often worked in the evenings, after the construction crews had finished, and one particular night, because it was the last time they would have access to the lift, they worked straight through from 8 p.m. to 5 a.m.,” he remembers. “Everyone we worked with at GC Pro showed that kind of dedication to us as customers. I’d recommend them to everyone. And in fact, I already have.”

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

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