Stage Monitoring for House of Worship

This "Application Series" article gives advice toward the specific areas of business serviced by Guitar Center Professional, including studio recording/film sound, live sound, house of worship, clubs/restaurants, business sound/lighting systems, and more.

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Unless you’ve spent some time onstage playing in bands of the spiritual or secular variety, the whole concept of stage monitoring might be hard to understand. The most simple way to get it is that if a musician or speaker can’t hear themselves (or other members of their band or choir) while onstage, it’s terribly difficult to put on a top-notch presentation or performance. Therefore, you need a solution in your house of worship that allows musical performances or spoken word presentations to be heard onstage as well as in the audience.

There are two general categories of stage monitoring systems: speaker monitors (also known as floor wedges) and in-ear monitors (IEMs, sometimes called personal monitors). Traditional stage monitors are wedge-shaped speakers that are placed toward the front of the stage, facing back toward the performers. In-ear monitors are exactly as the name implies: like the ear buds in an iPod, they fit into the external ear canals of the person addressing or performing for the audience.

Some worship facilities use a combination of traditional floor wedge stage monitors along with in-ear monitors for the best of both worlds. St. Andrews Presbyterian Church (Newport Beach, CA).

Houses of worship that opt for in-ear monitors (IEMs) over stage wedges enjoy a clear, uncluttered stage that can be an advantage for both performers and audiences. Grace Family Church (Lutz, FL).

Wedges vs IEMs
Floor wedges have been around for decades and are very simple in design; they are merely speakers that connect via audio cables to a mixing surface. There is an inherent level of reliability with this low-tech (but time-proven) solution. In choosing between floor wedges and IEMs, be aware that some performers simply don’t like the aspect of having things tucked into their ears while they play. They might find it too isolating from the natural acoustics of the stage and the room as a whole.

But in today’s world, it’s hard to pose an argument against in-ear monitoring. Using them, the performer gets a level of control of volume, panning, and other elements that is simply not possible in wedge monitors. In-ear monitors will never be a cause of feedback, which is always a danger when you have live speakers on stage that can direct sound back into open microphones. Finally, since most IEM systems are wireless, those performers can move about the stage more freely, since their mix is always right there with them. This can be especially good for dramatic performances.

Guitar Center Professional’s account representatives are experts at specifying monitoring systems for houses of worship. In many cases, they can even visit your place of worship to determine what will work best for you.

FAQ
How many floor wedges or IEM systems will our house of worship need?
The answer is dependent on several factors, including the size of the stage and the number of performers/presenters that will using them at once. With wedge monitors, each monitor will disperse sound over a certain area of the stage. In a typical worship band-type music event, it’s a good idea to have at least three wedges at the front of the stage for singers and instrumentalists, and more near the back for drummers, keyboardists, backing vocalists and the like. With in-ear monitors, the answer is more simple: each performer will require his or her own set of IEMs.

Is it complicated to set up and use a wireless IEM system?
No. It can be set up quickly and easily. However, making the most of an IEM system’s advantages (like setting up personalized levels and other settings for each performer) requires a level of aquired skill. In the professional live sound world, there’s a role called a “monitor mixer” whose sole job is to do just this. Your GC Pro rep can assist you in getting your IEM system set up and ready for use.

If we’re building a new facility from the ground up, is it important to take stage monitoring into consideration?
Stage monitoring is of vital importance to the quality of the performance or presentation, and therefore impacts the experience of the audience as well. It should be thought of on an equal degree of importance as your facility’s main PA system, lighting, and more.

What if we can’t afford our stage monitoring system all at once?
First, Guitar Center Professional has excellent financing programs tailor-made for houses of worship. Second, with both wedge speakers and IEMs, your monitoring system can be built and then added to as your budget permits.

Suggested Products

Yamaha CM15V 15” 2-Way Club Concert Series Monitor Speakers

Electro-Voice TX1122FM Tour-X Floor Monitor

Shure PSM 300 Wireless Personal Monitoring System

Sennheiser ew 300 IEM G3 In-Ear Wireless Monitor System

Audio-Technica M2 In-Ear Wireless Monitor System

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.

Yamaha Montage Exclusive Preview at GC Pro

Yamaha has a new flagship synthesizer that builds on the legacy of their industry-leading synths like the DX and the Motif... and you can be among the first to check it out in person.

On Thursday March 31 at Guitar Center Hollywood, we're hosting a special exclusive preview of the new Yamaha Montage Synth. It sets the next milestone for synthesizers with sophisticated dynamic control, massive sound creation and streamlined workflow, all combined in a powerful keyboard designed to inspire your creativity. Composers, sound designers, and serious synth geeks alike will not want to miss this free event. Join GC Pro and Yamaha factory expert Blake Angelos for this exclusive first look.

Three time slots are available, and we request that you RSVP at the appropriate link below to join us.

Guitar Center Hollywood
7425 Sunset Blvd.
Hollywood, CA 90046
(323) 874-1060

RSVP NOW: MARCH 31, 11AM

RSVP NOW: MARCH 31, 1PM

RSVP NOW: MARCH 31, 3PM

Junkie XL Outlines His Workflow Built with the Help of GC Pro

Tom Holkenborg, aka Junkie XL.

WESTLAKE VILLAGE, CA, February 3, 2016 — Tom Holkenborg, also known as Junkie XL or JXL, is one of the top film composers working today, and he took a unique route to get there – aided in part by the sourcing power and expertise of Guitar Center Professional (GC Pro), the business-to-business (B2B) division of Guitar Center providing highly customized service for professional accounts. Having achieved worldwide success as electronic artist Junkie XL, licensing music to video games, films and commercials, and topping the charts in 24 countries with his remix of Elvis Presley’s “A Little Less Conversation,” he decided it was time for a change. Twelve years ago, the Dutch multi-instrumentalist, remixer, producer and engineer relocated to Los Angeles to add a “film composer” credit to his name. And the move was attempted somewhat naively, admits Holkenborg. “I came here and said, ‘Let’s score movies!’ I sat in with Harry Gregson-Williams — still one of my favorite film composers — and saw how he worked, how he combines the orchestra with other elements, and how he dealt with meetings with the studios, and I realized that it is not as easy as it looks.”

So Holkenborg decided to take a back seat, working as an assistant for various composers while also composing music for projects as they came. And more and more came in, and Holkenborg steadily built a reputation as one of the hardest-working and talented composers in Hollywood. By 2015, those 12 years of hard work have more than paid off, with composer credits on several major motion pictures: for example, Run All Night, Mad Max: Fury Road, Black Mass, Kill Your Friends, and Point Break just in 2015 alone. As 2016 gets underway, his music will be heard in Deadpool and Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, with more to come as the year progresses.

The point at which a film composer is brought into a project can vary. “I’m now working on a science fiction movie that comes out in a year or so; I got the script in March 2014. Fury Road I got almost two years ago,” he says. “But then there are movies like 300: Rise of an Empire or Black Mass that come in five weeks ahead. That’s a whole different set of challenges.” If no film has been shot yet, he says, “If you’ve got a script your head takes you to places that are not connected to the images yet. I start to think about the story and what would fit the characters and the movie.” Initially, he says, he would read a script, put it down, and immediately start working. But now, “I tend to take more time to think about it. At a certain point it starts playing in my head, which comes after years of making music. Then I start working.”

Holkenborg and his family recently moved into a house in L.A.’s San Fernando Valley, converting an entire wing into a series of studios, including his main writing and mixing room, which features two enormous modular synthesizers. “I’m particularly fond of rooms that have a liveliness to them, like this room,” he says. “When I mix here, at first it sounds very cluttered because of the reverb and slapback, but if I can get a mix really tight in this room then it will sound really awesome in a theater.”

As for a DAW, “I’ve been going between Cubase, Pro Tools, and Logic since the beginning of time. For the last three and a half years it has been Cubase. It’s been really wonderful; I’ve been able to build a massive template that runs really smoothly. The Cubase machine is a super-fast PC. Linked to that are six server units running VSL [Vienna Symphonic Library] Pro. Cubase comes with a ridiculous amount of plug-ins, so I pretty much have everything that’s available.” He continues, “The speakers are very important to me. I’ve had the Dynaudio AIR 25s almost 14 years. They really work for me. I get good mixes out of them, and it’s a pleasure to listen to them for a long period of time.” Holkenborg also has racks of hardware, including a pair of early-1980s Yamaha REV7 reverbs and a Korg DRV-3000 multi-processor, but notes, “Outboard gear is essentially irrelevant when it comes to working in-the-box. But it’s super important when creating sounds or during recording.”

GC Pro has been a key partner throughout. Holkenborg notes, “I've known Derek Snyder [currently Director, GC Pro Business Development] at GC Pro for 14 years now. He has always had my back for any technical or gear challenge that I have faced. To have a relationship like that is very important to me. It keeps the creative energy flowing. Whether its guitars, amps, software or hardware, I always rely on his expertise.”

He has no standard approach to composing: “I love to be as original as I can. I usually end up with a score that is quite left of center.” But composing music for motion pictures is not like making a record, he stresses. “It’s not about the music, it’s about the film. Your prime responsibility is to enhance the film and come up with something that really fits the film.” Once he is confident with his direction and has some music recorded, Holkenborg sends what he calls his sketchbook to the film director. “As a music product it’s finished, but it’s a sketchbook in the sense that I want to show my ideas to the director. We’ll use that as a template. I’ll ask, do you recognize your movie in this? It’s not even to picture. We start a discussion. I’ll take chunks of the music and rework it to a scene and see the director’s response. It’s teamwork. There are people who think that the composer can determine what’s going to happen in a film score. That’s not true — the director steers the ship.”

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 Helps Engineer/Producer Mark Lienhart

The control room of the new space of One Louder Studio in Hamilton, Ohio, with gear sourced through GC Pro. Photo credit: Rudy Harris Photography

— The latest upgrade to Lienhart’s One Louder Studio features state-of-the-art Slate Pro Audio RAVEN MTX console and tons of other gear sourced through GC Pro —

WESTLAKE VILLAGE, CA, November 12, 2014 — Cincinnati’s One Louder Studio represents the fulfilled dreams of owner and engineer/producer Mark Lienhart. The studio has grown organically since its origins in its first location in Hamilton, Ohio, with Lienhart upgrading gear along the way, remodeling his space and finally moving to a larger permanent space, where he has achieved sonic nirvana with a workflow that results in the sound he’s always strived for but could never quite attain. “I always wondered how the major-label engineers got that last 10% or so of sound quality. I worked and worked, studying the science and art of recording, but I just couldn’t quite get there. As much as people say that the gear doesn’t matter, they’re wrong – the gear is that last 10%! Nothing I did would make the sound perfect until I found the gear that complemented what I was doing.” And this gear has been assembled in Lienhart’s new space thanks to a close relationship with Guitar Center Professional (GC Pro), the outside sales division of Guitar Center that focuses on the needs of professional users – specifically with GC Pro Sales rep Jim Kinney, who has worked with Lienhart at every step of the way in outfitting the new facility.

Lienhart’s tenure as a studio owner has humble beginnings – a few mics and an interface, purchased at the grand re-opening of Cincinnati’s Guitar Center in 2007 or so. As he recorded more and more in his band’s rehearsal space, he started to get calls from other acts in the area. Word was spreading, and the records were getting better and better. Before long, Lienhart and his wife made the decision to take the studio to the next level. After moving to a space near the University of Cincinnati, he made a significant upgrade to his setup, working with Kinney to set the facility apart from other mid-sized studios in the area. But the biggest shift was yet to come – moving into and outfitting yet another space, his current one. It’s been an inarguably fast rise, and GC Pro has been his number-one resource for the right gear and service.

The centerpiece of the new facility, in operation since June 2014, is the Slate Pro Audio RAVEN MTX console, an acclaimed, state-of-the-art multi-touch touchscreen interface. “We were considering several great options for consoles, but Jim was wise enough to take the conversation in another direction – ‘Have you ever considered the RAVEN?’ – and he set up a demo for me at GC Pro’s Hollywood showroom with some sessions I had tracked. I got behind that console, and it was absolutely the most intuitive way to mix. I immediately understood how it worked. The tactile response is extraordinary. I was able to edit and mix right there at the demo session. Saying that I was sold on the idea right away is an understatement. It was a revelation.” Kinney and Lienhart interfaced the RAVEN MTX, running Pro Tools HDX, with a custom analog board that they designed themselves with all of Lienhart’s favorite outboard gear – pre-amps, EQs, compressors and the like. Lienhart adds, “We created a setup that blends analog outboard gear, Pro Tools and the RAVEN MTX interface. I have so many flavors to choose from, and all these elements work together marvelously.” The setup is complemented by Genelec 8050 Active Monitors, also sourced through GC Pro, and the classic Yamaha NS10’s, which Lienhart acquired from a retiring prominent voice actress who had used them for years in her home recording space – but uniquely, never for music.

A final touch was acoustical treatment. Lienhart recalls, “Jim arranged for Jay Porter from Radial and Prime Acoustics to do a 3D rendering of the room, based on the architects drawings and our specs, and he recommended several pieces of Prime Acoustics treatment, strategically placed in just the right spots. It was the perfect solution for controlling the sound in the control room and the tracking room.”

Lienhart is thrilled with the results: “The undertaking of rebuilding my studio and workflow from the ground up was hard work, but the records we’re making now – the sound is incredible. I listen to them and literally can’t believe we made that happen at our facility. I definitely could not have done it without the help of Jim and GC Pro, because at every turn, if I had a question, Jim had the answer, or knew how to get it. The last high-profile client I had, he got choked up and said that we brought to life the sound in his head, which is the biggest compliment you can get as an engineer or producer.”

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

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

Phenix City First Assembly of God Looks to GC Pro

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

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

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

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

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

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

GC Pro Is a Great Fit for Fit Revolution

Fit Revolution, an indoor cycling studio and “boot camp” fitness-training facility in the Boston suburb of North Reading, featuring a new A/V system spec’ed and installed by GC Pro.

— New Boston-area fitness center relied on GC Pro to outfit it with the best sound for spinning —
WESTLAKE VILLAGE, CA, February 6, 2013 — Fit Revolution, an indoor cycling studio and “boot camp” fitness-training facility that opened last September in the Boston suburb of North Reading, keeps its hundreds of members in great shape with 22 stationary bicycles in its 800-square-foot studio. It also is one more example of how Guitar Center Professional (GC Pro), the outside sales division of Guitar Center that focuses on the needs of professional users, has helped a wide range of establishments, from restaurants to retail, get the right AV systems that fit the way they work and help boost their business.

GC Pro Senior Account Manager PK Pandey was referred to Fit Revolution Owner Michelle O’Connor by a colleague for whom GC Pro had recently installed a new sound system. “PK and I talked a bit about what I wanted to accomplish, and he seemed to understand it perfectly,” says O’Connor, who was also the PT Director at the Reading YMCA for four years. “I told PK that I had a budget to work with but that I was willing to pay for quality. I just trusted him to know what had to be done, and it turned out perfectly.”

Says Pandey, who heads up GC Pro’s Boston location, “Michelle and I had one meeting and we hit it off. I knew exactly what she was looking to do and how to help her achieve that. She now has the best sound system in a fitness club I know of. It sounds amazing.”

At Fit Revolution, GC Pro spec’ed and installed four Electro-Voice® EVID™ 8.2 Ceiling Series speakers and two Electro-Voice EVID 10.1 subwoofers, all powered through an Electro-Voice CPS2.6 amplifier and controlled via a Yamaha MG12 mixer. In addition, GC Pro installed a pair of American DJ® Mega Bar™ LED lights. “I liked that PK chose to use ceiling speakers,” O’Connor points out. “I’ve seen other fitness installations where the speakers are put in the corners and that tends to look cluttered and take up valuable floor space. PK recognized that floor space is part of the business model for a fitness center, so putting the speakers in the ceiling was the best way to go.”

O’Connor says the feedback from her clients about the sound quality has been great, as has GC Pro’s follow-up. “If there’s ever an issue, PK is right here with the solution,” she says. “It’s been a great experience working with GC Pro. I’m glad someone recommended them to me, and I’ll be happy to do the same for someone else.”

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

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

GC Pro Helps First Baptist Church

First Baptist Church of Sebring, Florida, recently renovated and featuring a new sound system sourced through GC Pro.
WESTLAKE VILLAGE, CA, October 30, 2012 — The First Baptist Church of Sebring, Florida, was founded in 1922. A lot has changed in the intervening 90 years, including the church’s move to its current location in 1987. Since then, the church has continued to expand its campus, adding a Fellowship Hall, kitchen, elevator, children's department, and the "ROC" (Recreation Outreach Center) for athletic events, social gatherings, and youth activities. One of the things that didn’t change as quickly, however, was the church sanctuary’s sound system, which was both old and ill-designed for the church’s dimensions, which are wider than long, causing many sound problems (for instance, the 60-person choir would miss many of the weekly sermons due to lack of intelligibility through the PA system). A change needed to happen, so the church reached out to Guitar Center Professional (GC Pro), the outside sales division of Guitar Center that focuses on the needs of professional users, for help. Today, everyone in First Baptist of Sebring can hear every word spoken by the Pastor and every note of music sung by the choir and played by the worship band.

GC Pro’s team assessed the church’s needs carefully, noting in particular the specification for a sound system with excellent horizontal dispersion characteristics, to address the building’s interior dimensions and lack of acoustical treatments. Commuting from GC Pro’s Tampa office, GC Pro Account Manager Mick Hall spent hours at the church, figuring out the best systems for its needs. These included a JBL VRX928 line array system configured as a center cluster, with two VRX dual-15-inch subwoofers.

“The old systems left a number of dead spots throughout the church,” Hall explains. “It simply didn’t have the reach, and as a result intelligibility suffered. Rooms with these kinds of dimensions need very specific kinds of system solutions.”

The new PA system was rounded out with a new Yamaha LS9 FOH console, Aviom in-ear wireless monitoring for the band, an Ashly NE24.24M matrix processor, a Sennheiser Evolution wireless microphone system, and a pair of JBL CBT 70 mini-arrays for the choir’s monitors. Hall also specified two Mitsubishi 8100 video projectors. “The big picture was to get even and consistent sound coverage for the entire sanctuary, which is something the church had never had,” says Hall.

GC Pro was chosen as the partner on this project based on the comprehensiveness of their approach, which included detailed design and consultation services and installation availability through its Approved Vendor Program, in addition to competitive pricing. “We let them know we would be their partners in this project, not just a vendor selling equipment,” says Hall. “That’s how GC Pro does it.”

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

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

The Alley Recording Company and GC Pro

Co-partner and chief engineer Marc Nelson in the control room of The Alley Recording Company, Valparaiso, Indiana. The studio has an impressive arsenal of gear, much of which was sourced through GC Pro.

— Chief engineer and co-partner Marc Nelson keeps the overhead low in small-city Indiana, offering great value to acts from nearby Chicago and elsewhere —

WESTLAKE VILLAGE, CA, May 3, 2012 — The Alley Recording Company, located in the arts-friendly city of Valparaiso, Indiana, is the brainchild of co-partner and chief engineer Marc Nelson. After a stint at the Chicago Recording Company and time spent as a protégée of producer legend Bill Schnee (Carly Simon, Whitney Houston, Steely Dan), Nelson decided to open his own studio in 2008 in his hometown of Valparaiso, despite a shaky economy and an even shakier studio industry, an atmosphere in which far more studios were shutting down than opening successfully. Nelson and co-partner Chad Clifford saw the opportunity to keep the overhead low in the small yet arts-rich Valparaiso, and offer a friendly, thrifty alternative to the studios in nearby Chicago. “We initially thought about opening a facility in Chicago, but competition kept me out – there are about 425 studios there alone,” Nelson recalls. “And out here there is zero overhead. Our rent is very low and I would say we are the nicest studio between here and Indianapolis.” The business model is paying off so far, with The Alley bringing a new level of studio professionalism to the area. The studio has an impressive arsenal of gear, much of which was sourced through Guitar Center Professional (GC Pro), the outside sales division of Guitar Center that focuses on the needs of professional users, and with whom Nelson has a longstanding relationship. “If I ever need something, GC Pro is always there,” notes Nelson. “I can’t stress enough how important they have been to my studio, simply because they always deliver.”

The two-suite facility certainly does not disappoint in terms of size, aesthetics and gear. The large live room measures 28 feet by 20 feet with 14-foot ceilings, with two isolation booths adjacent. Instruments include a Yamaha C3 grand piano, a Wurlitzer spinet, a vintage set of Ludwig drums, a Hammond A100 organ, various mallet percussion instruments, and guitars from such manufacturers as Gibson, Taylor and Rickenbacker, among other instruments. Nelson selected Focal Twin6 Be three-way monitors with matching subwoofer for his control room. “These are the only monitors I use and for my size, they are perfect. The top end is never shrill and they have plenty of power,” he states. His main console is a 36-channel MCI-Sony MXP-3000, which he runs with his Avid Pro Tools|HD2 system. The console also features eight integrated preamplifiers customized by Greg Norman from Electrical Audio. Outboard amplifiers include models from Daking, Great River, Chandler, Universal Audio, Vintech, Avalon and others. Other gear includes limiters and compressors from Summit, API, Empirical Labs and Chandler. And of course the microphone closet is fully stocked, with units from Audio-Technica, Blue, AKG, Flea (Flea 47 and Flea C12), Royer, Shure, Schoeps and others, which Nelson has mostly bought in pairs.

Valparaiso is known for its great music community, and Nelson spearheaded a 13-episode PBS series, “Live at the Alley,” filmed entirely at the studio. PBS has since asked the studio to do a second season. Nelson notes, “The main thing for the PBS series was for us to host high quality live performances – it wasn’t about money or even advertising the studio.” But the show has indeed raised the studio’s profile, and more and more acts from the Chicago area are turning to The Alley. “We got many of the large Chicago groups and a handful of others from Boston to Los Angeles involved with what we’re doing here. Let’s hope our good luck continues!”

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.