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.

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.

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 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.