ESPI 10.29 Studios in Mazatlán, Sinaloa, Mexico

The main control room at ESPI 10.29 Studios, located in the Marina neighborhood of Mazatlán in the Mexican state of Sinaloa. The studio was outfitted by the Malvicino Design Group with gear sourced through GC Pro. Photo courtesy of the Malvicino Design Group. © 2015.

— Equipment purchase and installation was carried out by GC Pro Affiliate Program member Malvicino Design Group —
WESTLAKE VILLAGE, CA, August 26, 2015 — Guitar Center Professional (GC Pro), the outside sales division of Guitar Center that focuses on the needs of professional users, recently collaborated with GC Pro Affiliate Program member Horacio Malvicino of the New York-based Malvicino Design Group, on the design, outfitting and commissioning of the private production facility for Mexican regional music star Espinoza Paz. The vast majority of the multi-room facility’s audio equipment was sourced for the Malvicino Group through Javier Willis, Account Manager at the San Diego, California GC Pro office. The facility, named ESPI 10.29 Studios, is located in the Marina neighborhood of Mazatlán in the Mexican state of Sinaloa. The new three-story construction houses Paz’s private offices, a lounge and a large kitchen and dining room seating two dozen on the ground floor; two control rooms and a large tracking space with three isolation rooms on the second floor; and guest accommodations on the top floor.

The main control room is outfitted with a 48-input Solid State Logic Duality mixing console, a 48-track Avid Pro Tools|HDX3 system and a Studer A827 Gold Edition 24-track analog tape machine, Ocean Way Audio HR2 main monitors and racks of outboard processing. The second control room houses a 24-fader AMS Neve Genesys mixing console and another Pro Tools rig.

Views of the 24-fader AMS Neve Genesys mixing console and other gear in the second control room at ESPI 10.29 Studios, located in the Marina neighborhood of Mazatlán in the Mexican state of Sinaloa. The studio was outfitted by the Malvicino Design Group with gear sourced through GC Pro. Photo courtesy of the Malvicino Design Group. © 2015.

“My idea was to come up with a studio on par with anything in the U.S. I think it’s some of my best work,” says Malvicino, who has more than two decades of experience providing acoustical, architectural and technical systems design to recording studios and other production facilities around the world. Malvicino says that he was given carte blanche by the artist regarding equipment choices as well as room layout and technical, acoustic and interior design.

“I’ve been in the Latin music business for many years and I’m connected with a lot of producers,” Javier Willis reports. “In 2013 one of my producer friends brought me to Espinoza’s manager, who was in the process of shopping around. We hit it off and started ordering the equipment. We then brought Horacio in for the studio design and the equipment integration and installation.”

Malvicino notes, “Banda music requires a lot of people playing live, so I wanted to build a room that allowed a lot of people to record together, with variable acoustics. The panels on the side wall swivel; they have absorption on one side and reflection on the other side. You can change the RT [reverberation time] in the room by about 25 percent.” TADI, the Mexico City-based exclusive manufacturer of acoustic treatments for Malvicino’s projects worldwide, supplied the acoustic treatment at this new facility and additionally acted as the general contractor and interior designer. “The live room ceiling is 21 feet high, so we outfitted it with condenser mics hanging in specific locations so that they can not only use close miking but also the room. And they can bring in a couple of large format P.A. speakers, feed them the mix, crank up the listen mics and use the studio as a live chamber,” he said.

ESPI 10.29 Studios, located in the Marina neighborhood of Mazatlán in the Mexican state of Sinaloa. The studio was outfitted by the Malvicino Design Group with gear sourced through GC Pro. Photo courtesy of the Malvicino Design Group. © 2015.

A view of the tracking room (background) and console (Solid State Logic Duality mixing console), main monitors (Ocean Way Audio HR2 main monitors) and other components in the main control room, at ESPI 10.29 Studios, located in the Marina neighborhood of Mazatlán in the Mexican state of Sinaloa. The studio was outfitted by the Malvicino Design Group with gear sourced through GC Pro. Photo courtesy of the Malvicino Design Group. © 2015.

Malvicino elected to install Ocean Way Audio HR2 monitors, driven by Lab.gruppen and QSC Audio amplification, in the main control room. He consulted with Ocean Way founder Allen Sides to ensure optimum performance in the space, which is 32 feet deep with a 21-foot ceiling. “That’s the first time I’ve done soffit-mounted Ocean Way monitors,” says Malvicino. “They sound incredible—so good that the engineers are having a hard time working on the near fields.” Both control rooms feature Neumann KH 310 near field monitors with KH 810 subwoofers; ADAM and Yamaha NS10 speakers are alternatively available.

“The outboard gear is what you would expect,” he continues, including rack units from Empirical Labs, GML, TubeTech and Universal Audio. “They like a warm sound so I included a bunch of Chandler EMI compressors and mic preamps. There’s Bricasti and Lexicon reverbs, and a lot of 500 Series modules—API, Burl Audio, Grace Audio, Little Labs and SSL.”

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.

Studio Profile: Vanquish Studios, Davie, Florida

Vanquish Studios’ state-of-the-art control room features an SSL Duality SE 48-input analog console; monitors by ADAM, Genelec and M-Audio; and a host of outboard gear.

-- A small private studio boasts professional-grade gear and world-class atmosphere, attracting top artists across a wide variety of genres --
Vanquish Studios sits comfortably near the top of a short list of south Florida’s most advanced private recording facilities. Known for its warm and inviting atmosphere (certainly not hurt by the sunny climate of the studio’s hometown of Davie, Florida, near Fort Lauderdale) and extensive and state-of-the-art gear setup, Vanquish has become a hotspot for recording local talent, and a destination for acts from elsewhere. “I can give you the numbers,” states the studio’s founder and CEO Joseph Salamida, who also serves as one of the primary producers and engineers at the facility. “Five years in business, well over 300 happy clients, more than 84,000 GB of data and over 12,500 hours recorded. We have been busy!” Shortly after opening in 2009, Vanquish was selected as one of the “Year’s Coolest New Studios” in MIX Magazine’s year-in-review. And in the years since, the studio has been lucky to work on GRAMMY-nominated projects by such artists as William McDowell and Israel Houghton.

After graduating as one of the top students in his class at SAE Miami, Salamida tried to find a studio to intern with in the area, but none felt right to him, as he didn’t feel they were going to offer him a balance with his work at church on Sundays – a lifelong priority. “I had a mentor at the time who saw my potential and that I had something special to offer. Through him, I became friendly with some industry heavy-hitters including Horacio Malvicino at the Malvicino Design Group. All of these people encouraged me to go all the way. For instance, it became clear to me that it makes less sense to invest in a great console and set it up in a cement garage than it does to go the extra mile and develop a world-class facility to house that console. So that became my goal. Somehow we made it work, and here we are today.” Joining Salamida in the studio’s day-to-day operations are several trusty associates: Franklin Rodriguez, Franklin Soccoro, Chris Hardy, Tony Morales, Paul Salveson, Danny Duncan, new addition Kevin “Gomie” Gomez, Mario Caroscio, and others.

Vanquish Studios’ extensive patch bay, along with Apogee AD16X 192K A/D converters, Apogee DA16X 192K D/A converters, Empirical Labs EL8X/S Stereo Pair Distressor, and more.

The studio was designed by the Blank Design Group with systems integration by the Malvicino Design Group and gear sourced through Guitar Center Pro. GC Pro has been a key advocate since day one. As Salamida notes, “I have worked with three different Account Managers at GC Pro, and each of them has been world-class. When I call frantically with an emergency, they help us solve it in a calm and professional way. They’ve got our back.”

The live room sports a mix of wood, stone and acoustical treatments – customizable for each project to the clients’ needs. A luxurious lounge allows much-needed R&R. The control room’s centerpiece is an SSL Duality SE 48-input analog console from Solid State Logic. GC Pro-sourced gear includes Pro Tools and a full software complement; microphones from Audio-Technica, AKG, Neumann, Sennheiser, Sony and several other manufacturers; monitors from ADAM, Genelec, Yamaha and others; and outboard gear from such iconic brands as Focusrite, Lexicon, Universal Audio, Apogee and more.

The acoustically-engineered tracking room features a mix of hard wood, stone and acoustical treatment, customizable to suit the needs of each project.

Vanquish Studios worked closely with GC Pro affiliate Malvicino Design Group to help make Joseph Salamida’s dream a reality.

The studio has produced successful projects with artists on every genre, but Salamida’s heart lies with his Christian ministry: “It might sound old-fashioned to some, but I see this studio as an extension of my ministry, whether or not I’m working on Christian music at the moment. And for Christian artists, we are expanding what we offer – we now are unveiling our production company and record label to get these projects fully produced, all in-house, offering a turnkey solution to save these artists money on their tight budgets.”

Salamida is rightly proud of his crew and what they’ve accomplished: “We're a close team of musicians and engineers,” he notes “We are passionate about what we do, and we take pride in delivering only the best, and hopefully it shows on the faces of our clients when they hear the mixes or hold their album in their hand.”

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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 Chosen to Design Extensive A/V Setup

The Platinum Club at Guitar Center’s new flagship Times Square store.

— Guitar Center looks in-house to its professional division, who helped design and install the A/V complement for the new superstore, with the help of GC Pro Affiliate Program member Malvicino Design Group —
WESTLAKE VILLAGE, CA, September 15, 2014 — Guitar Center recently opened the doors on its new flagship location in New York City’s Times Square with a star-studded opening weekend and a level of spectacle right at home in what is arguably Manhattan’s busiest and most conspicuous district. Guitar Center’s 262nd retail location is an ultra-modern musical instrument and technology center covering over 28,000 square feet. In-store elements include Guitar Center’s Platinum Club (showcasing high-end luxury guitars, along with a live performance venue and control room); a Fender custom shop where unique guitars are featured; a full DJ experience department; a boutique pedal selection in a stunning 360-degree display; and 28,000 square feet of guitars, drums, keys, DJ, recording, live sound and more. The store also now serves as the permanent home to two legendary pieces of rock history: Eric Clapton’s iconic “Blackie” Fender Stratocaster and ES-335.

For the complicated task of helping design, manage and install the A/V components to meet the needs of such a technology-specific space, Guitar Center sought an organization with the right expertise to get the job done, on budget and on time – luckily, they had one in-house: Guitar Center Professional (GC Pro), the outside sales division of Guitar Center that focuses on the needs of professional users. Throughout the project, GC Pro worked with Affiliate Program member Horacio Malvicino and his firm Malvicino Design Group, who designed and installed the detailed A/V setup.

“Guitar Center management asked to have GC Pro involved in order to ensure a proper customer experience from an audio-visual point of view,” stated GC Pro Vice President Rick Plushner. “We were honored and excited to be asked. Times Square is the crossroads of the world, where people from all over the planet come to visit and shop. Horacio came in early on in the project and knew exactly what we were trying to accomplish, and he designed the backbone and the technology infrastructure in a superb way.”

A multi-screen Panasonic video display graces the outside of the building on 44th St., composed of screens sourced through GC Pro. Upon entering, visitors begin to descend an escalator, immersed in the sights and sounds of an excited crowd waiting for their star to take the stage. A complement of QSC speakers and a Q-Sys system, along with a massive LED display screen, helped create this effect. “It’s as if you’re a rock star coming into a stadium to perform, and so we were asked to help create that experience,” stated Plushner.

Within the store is the Platinum Club, which features a live stage and full control room for multi-track A/V recording and production. GC Pro furnished an Avid S3L console and JBL monitors/loudspeakers for the live space, with an Avid S6 console in the control room. “There’s a whole host of digital and analog outboard gear in there as well, with proper monitoring,” added Plushner. “It’s a real control room to do proper recording, and we’re excited about what opportunities that’s going to bring for the company.”

Malvicino stated, “I’ve been lucky to work with GC Pro on several major design and installation jobs over the years, and it has been a great experience for me personally and professionally. This Times Square GC project presented some new opportunities and challenges, and I’m proud to have been able to help bring make their vision a reality.”

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 Mitch Cox at Conclave Studios

The console and engineer control center for New York City’s new Conclave Studios, with a gear setup designed by Malvicino Design Group and outfitted by GC Pro. Photo courtesy of Malvicino Design Group. © 2014.

WESTLAKE VILLAGE, CA, July 22, 2014 — New York City has lots of recording studios — the Williamsburg district of Brooklyn alone reportedly has 60 or more. But Mitch Cox hadn’t found one that catered to heavy metal and hard rock the way the aspiring record producer and entrepreneur wanted to, so he set out to build one. “When you’re designing a studio for maximum flexibility, to try to please everyone, you make design and equipment choices based on that, and those are inevitably compromises,” says Cox, “In this studio [Conclave Studios], we made design and equipment choices around the classic metal sounds.” Assisting Cox in his vision has been Guitar Center Professional (GC Pro), the outside sales division of Guitar Center that focuses on the needs of professional users. Conclave Studios came about around a meeting between Cox and Milo Pullman, a GC Pro Account Manager working out of Guitar Center’s Union Square store location. After listening to Cox’s vision for his studio and his business, Pullman suggested a meeting with Horacio Malvicino, a noted recording studio designer and a GC Pro Affiliate Program member. Within a matter of weeks, what had been Cox’s vision suddenly had a team to build it. After several months of searching, they found a former recording studio on the far edge of Manhattan’s Chelsea neighborhood, in a massive, glass-walled building overlooking the Hudson River.

Horacio Malvicino – whose Malvicino Design Group has done nearly two dozen studio designs as an Affiliate of GC Pro, including Live’s new Think Loud residential facility in York, Pennsylvania, the newly completed Seven Pillars near Abilene, Texas, and Noisematch Studios in Miami, saw Conclave Studios as a unique task – “It’s always a challenge designing a facility in a big city, where isolation and sound control are critical. Especially,” he adds, “if you’re talking about heavy metal music.” The overarching lesson that Malvicino took away from his research comes down to a single word: diffusion. Custom-made diffusors line the wall and ceiling of the 22x14-foot recording room, which also features acoustical clouds suspended from the ceiling with absorptive inserts, controlling flutter reflections between the floor and ceiling; the room also has reversible panels that have absorptive material on one side and reflective surfaces on the others, providing variable acoustics that let the room’s inherent reverb time vary between 0.7 and 0.95 seconds. (Not a huge range, says Malvicino, but enough for the type of music the room is intended for.)

The tracking room at New York City’s new Conclave Studios, with a gear setup designed by Malvicino Design Group and outfitted by GC Pro. Photo courtesy of Malvicino Design Group. © 2014.

As Malvicino worked on the studio’s design, he also consulted with Cox, Lagudi and Pullman on what technologies to include in the studio. While there’s gear in there that any recording pro would appreciate – including Focusrite and Midas mic preamps, dbx and Empirical Labs compressors, and a microphone closet filled with names like Sennheiser, AKG, Neumann and Audio-Technica – there’s plenty of digital real estate, too, including an Avid Pro Tools HD Native system and plug-ins from Waves, Antares, Sonnox and Metric-Halo. And although they looked at vintage consoles, the team decided on something more modern for the 23x18-foot control room: a 24-channel Neve Genesys desk with 1073 pre-amps, 1084 EQs and Encore automation with Total Recall. Monitoring is handled by two Genelec 1037C Tri-amplified Monitors for mains and Yamaha NS10's for nearfields.

Cox, who is driven and was tracking within days after the facility’s completion, cites the studio’s dbx and Empirical Labs compressors, which he says give metal and hard rock drums and guitars their edge. Conclave Studios offers Cox’s interpretation of a metalhead’s dream signal chain, starting with a Peavey 6505 amp head through a Mesa Boogie 4x12 cabinet. But he’s not dogmatic about it. “We just want to become the center of metal here,” he states. “It’s not about making money; it’s about the music, so we’re here to accommodate whatever these artists need and what best suits their sound.”

Cox appreciates the input he’s gotten from Pullman and GC Pro. “They’re exceptionally knowledgeable and flexible, but what I especially like is that they stay with you,” he says. “They understand that the process of building a studio from the ground up is a long-term relationship and requires patience. If someone’s just trying to sell you a product, that’s not going to work. So much of this was working through all the details and nuances of the design. That’s what Milo and Horacio did.”

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 Malvicino Design Group Collaborate

— GC Pro is instrumental in outfitting three locations of the Monterrey Institute of Technology’s recently introduced audio production program —
WESTLAKE VILLAGE, CA, May 22, 2013 — Mexico’s Monterrey Institute of Technology has been one of the leading institutions of higher education in Latin America since it was founded 70 years ago. Monterrey Tech (Tecnológico de Monterrey), as it’s also known, has over 90,000 students across 31 campuses in 25 cities in Mexico. In the last three years, the school instituted and expanded a highly successful audio production education curriculum that is now in place at three of its campuses: the school’s Monterrey headquarters, as well as the Santa Fe and new Mexico City campuses (both in the Mexico City metro area). Key equipment at all of the facilities supporting these audio production programs was sourced by Guitar Center Professional (GC Pro), the outside sales division of Guitar Center that focuses on the needs of professional users. Working with the New York City-based Malvicino Design Group – a leading design and consulting firm specializing in innovative architectural, acoustical and technical systems design and also a member of GC Pro’s Affiliate Program – GC Pro assured Monterrey Tech that they would have every piece of gear the school needed to make their audio production program as cutting-edge as possible.

The equipment lists for each campus are comprehensive and outfit all of the studios in ways that offer students a real-world environment for learning, and one with enough variation that will ready them for an increasingly complex audio technology landscape.

“That was one of the things that I really emphasized in my designs for the school,” explains Horacio Malvicino, President of the Malvicino Design Group. “You want all the studios to have the latest equipment, but I also wanted each room to have some outboard gear and other items that were unique to each room, so that students would encounter something new in each studio.”


Horacio Malvicino adds, “GC Pro and I have worked together on many projects in the past, and whether I work with them as a member of their Affiliate Program or I bring them to one of my projects as the supplier, as we did here, GC Pro proves time and time again that they are the best resource you can 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.

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 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.

424 POST Acquires Meyer Speaker System

Pictured L-R: Derek Snyder, GC Pro Regional Manager; and 424 POST principals and co-founders Kami Asgar and Sean McCormack. Asgar and McCormack have been relying on GC Pro for gear and unparalleled service since their company's inception.


— GC Pro once again guides leading Hollywood post facility as it chooses critical new monitoring system for its newest sound mixing stage and provides reliable system installation through its renowned Affiliate program —
WESTLAKE VILLAGE, CA, August 30, 2012 — Academy Award-nominated 424 POST is an all-digital post-production sound facility based in Culver City, California, committed to meeting the needs of the entire range of postproduction sound projects, from sound design to editorial, for both big-studio projects and independent features. Most recently, 424 POST handled the sound for big-screen dance-musical feature Perfect Pitch and for Dwayne Johnson’s forthcoming action thriller Snitch, a pair of films that bookend the wide variety of audio necessary in Hollywood feature work, from full-range music scores to high-SPL action sound effects. 424 POST, which celebrated its tenth anniversary this year, handles all of it effortlessly, thanks in part to a new Meyer monitoring system sourced through Guitar Center Professional (GC Pro), the outside sales division of Guitar Center that focuses on the needs of professional users, with whom 424 POST has a long-standing and successful relationship. In addition, the new Meyer Acheron 80 Screen Channel loudspeaker system that is now the centerpiece of 424 POST’s newest sound mixing stage was installed by Horacio Malvicino of the Malvicino Design Group, one of GC Pro’s approved vendors in its hugely successful Affiliate program.

The new Meyer Acheron 80 monitoring system was part of a larger equipment and technology purchase by 424 POST through GC Pro that also included a number of Apple Mac computers and Avid Pro Tools components also integrated by GC Pro. This was done in part to support Hollywood’s ever-growing fascination with multichannel film audio, from the 7.1 systems that 424 POST President and Partner Kami Asgar says have become the basic configuration, on up to the newly introduced multi-array Dolby ATMOS system, which will allow up to 128 discrete sound tracks and up to 64 unique speaker feeds, expected to be installed in 1,000 cinema locations next year. “Film sound is changing quickly and we knew we needed an advanced monitoring system for the new mix stage,” he says. “7.1 is now almost entry level,” Sean McCormack, Asgar’s Partner and 424 POST CEO, agrees. “Hollywood is looking for immersive sound, and our new Meyer system provides the kind of monitoring that addresses that.”

GC Pro excels at helping Hollywood professionals like 424 POST get what they need to be competitive. McCormack says he and Asgar and Partner/Vice President Tim Tuchrello spent considerable time reviewing various monitoring options, even as they constructed the critical front wall of the new theater, which would have to accommodate the behind-screen L-C-R monitors. “Bill Learned at GC Pro in Los Angeles made us aware of the Meyer Acheron monitors,” says McCormack. “They helped us further research them and provided all the additional information we required.” Asgar further notes that these particular monitors weren’t a regular product through GC Pro, but that the store’s staffers went out of their way to make them available. “One of the things that’s great about GC Pro is that with them, it’s not about selling the customer what they have – it’s about determining what the customer really needs, regardless of whether it’s on their shelves, and then getting it for them.” It’s also about making sure products are installed correctly and on schedule. McCormack says that the Malvicino Design Group worked closely with technicians from Meyer Sound and 424 POST to make sure that the new monitors were put in on time and performed to factory specs. “It would have been simpler for GC Pro to simply point us to one of their regular off-the-shelf products, but that’s not how they work,” he says. “As customers, they put us first, and that’s why we go to them first, and always will.”

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.

Noisematch Studios Turns to GC Pro

Noisematch Studios founder, musician/producer Alex Campos, in his facility’s control room, which features an SSL 24-channel Duality SE 24 console and other gear sourced through GC Pro.

— Studio owner Alex Campos applauds GC Pro’s knowledge base and dedication to service and support —

WESTLAKE VILLAGE, CA, March 26, 2012 — Musician/producer Alex Campos founded Noisematch Studios in Miami’s hip Wynwood Arts District in 2010. “I did a lot of research on where to locate the studio and also dug into the gear – my business started with just a small project and it grew from there,” Campos notes. And business has been booming – to the point where Campos has all the work he needs despite never having yet officially opened the studio to the public. Word-of-mouth has brought him business in almost every genre, and key clients have included Latin artists Alejandro Sanz, Luis Fonsi and Mexican recording artist Belinda. Through it all, Campos has had an ally in Guitar Center Professional (GC Pro), the outside sales division of Guitar Center that focuses on the needs of professional users, who has provided Campos and Noisematch with the gear they need and top-notch service and support.

Campos needed a massive space, large enough to host a live room that could fit a big band or orchestra, as well as another multi-purpose room for rehearsals and special events. The studio’s current location, developed through 2011, is a building that was formerly an art storage and trading warehouse. Campos and his team emptied the space to start from scratch. GC Pro Affiliate program member Horacio Malvicino of the Malvicino Design Group provided acoustic design, and they ended up with a 2500-square-foot live room (“Noiseroom”), three isolation booths and a main control room (“Noiselab”). Campos notes, “To me, this room has the perfect balance – it’s not too dry or too tight. We can record anything in there and we are very happy with the sound. The room itself is very microphone-friendly. You don’t have to work too hard to get a great sound. If you place your mics well, it is kind of like plug-and-play.”

Over the course of developing the studio, Campos had regular contact with the team at Miami’s GC Pro location. His main contact was Dan Scalpone, GC Pro Regional Manager, South Central U.S. Campos was impressed with the GC Pro staff’s knowledge and responsiveness: “There is always great communication and goodwill, and everything gets done as it should. On the occasions when they didn’t have an answer off the top of their head, they would do some research and always come back with a solution.”

Gear-wise, Campos and crew selected an SSL 24-channel Duality SE 24 console. “SSL sets the standard, and I’ve always loved the sound of their consoles. And obviously clients love it. After really getting to know this console, I don't think I can ever work with any other setup again. That's how much I personally love the Duality,” he notes. Other gear includes an Antelope Audio Isochrone Trinity/10M combination for clocking and the Allen Sides-designed Ocean Way HR-2 Studio monitors, available exclusively through GC Pro. “The HR-2 really blew my mind,” Campos recalls. “I didn’t know those kinds of speakers ever existed for studios. They are large format, but they have so much fidelity and high definition that I am actually using them as my main monitors in the studio. I call these speakers ‘the lie detectors’ because they are so true and so natural. They reveal everything.” Outboard gear includes a Shadow Hills Mastering Compressor, an API 500 series rack for drums, a 500 series API 512 and a pair of Brent Averill 1033s, as well as a Demeter Audio DI and microphones from Neumann, AKG, Telefunken and many others.

Campos sums up why he thinks clients are so eager to work at Noisematch: “Our studio is a lot like a boutique hotel. We give our clients all the attention and gear they expect in a professional studio environment, but there is also a little flair that people will remember. I look forward to continuing to establish Noisematch and grow with the amazing Wynwood arts scene. And we will definitely have GC Pro riding with us for all of 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.