GC Pro Works with Make-A-Wish®

Make-A-Wish® Southern Nevada program participant Diego, performing with his new DJ gear at a recent 5K event held by the organization. Photo courtesy of Make-A-Wish® Southern Nevada.

— GC Pro uses its incredible depth of inventory, its vast resources and the compassion of its employees to provide accessible products for children in the Make-A-Wish® program —

— Two young aspiring DJs now have professional-level rigs that they’re already putting to use at gigs, with all equipment, assembly and training
provided by GC Pro —
WESTLAKE VILLAGE, CA, June 27, 2014 — Guitar Center Professional (GC Pro), the outside sales division of Guitar Center that focuses on the needs of professional users, has been regularly collaborating with Make-A-Wish® Southern Nevada, a chapter of the national organization that grants the wishes of children diagnosed with life-threatening medical conditions in the United States and its territories, to provide access to musical instruments and professional audio equipment for children in the program. Most recently, the GC Pro office in Las Vegas worked with the southern Nevada chapter to make the dreams of two young DJs come true. In the cases of Kyle and Diego, two youngsters suffering from debilitating, life-threatening conditions, GC Pro fulfilled their wish list.

The new rigs for each DJ now include a Numark NS7II DJ Controller with case and stand, QSC K12 powered speakers and KW181 powered subwoofer, an Apple MacBook Pro laptop computer, Pioneer HDJ2000 professional headphones, Ableton Live 9 software, a Sennheiser E835 microphone and an Akai Professional EIE PRO 24-bit Audio/MIDI interface with USB hub. All of this equipment was provided fully assembled, configured and installed by Michael “Mickey” Lomboy, a member of the GC Pro Affiliates Program, with training also provided by GC Pro personnel – all part of how GC Pro supports Make-A-Wish’s acclaimed charity work.

“These kids are amazing,” says John Stevens, the Account Manager at GC Pro’s Las Vegas office who acted as the liaison for the project and for other similar collaborations since June of 2013. “They’re up against some serious illnesses — Kyle is permanently in a wheelchair and Diego has a serious neurological condition. But they are both really focused on becoming DJs. We wanted them to have the tools to achieve those dreams.” And that’s exactly what’s happened — both kids are already using the gear to play shows and concerts in front of substantial crowds.

Miriam Ceballos, Wish Granting Coordinator at Make-A-Wish Southern Nevada, had praise for GC Pro’s contributions to their cause. “We work with many vendors on these projects, and I can say that every time we’ve worked with GC Pro it’s been a pleasant and fulfilling experience, for us and for the kids,” she says. “DJ wishes have become very popular lately, and GC Pro knows exactly what the kids want and need, and it’s always right there when you need it. Sometimes the kids know what they want, and whatever it is, you know GC Pro has it in stock. And if the kids aren’t sure, GC Pro is there to help them figure out what works best for them.”

John Stevens notes that working at GC Pro is always fulfilling because, he says, “Every day you’re making someone’s dream come true, to be an artist, an engineer, a producer, a DJ. But with Make-A-Wish, it takes that feeling to a whole new level. When you see the kids smile and light up when they get that equipment, it pulls at your heartstrings. It’s the best feeling I’ve ever gotten here at GC Pro.”

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.

Heitor Pereira Creates “World Cup, It’s Time!”

The FIFA World Cup is one of international sports' biggest events, happening every four years and garnering a massive audience of soccer (aka "football" outside the USA) fans around the world. Beginning June 12, the 2014 World Cup will be held in Brazil, one of the sport's biggest hot spots. It's only fitting that longtime GC Pro customer and friend, Brazilian composer Heitor Pereira, was tapped to help create a special song for the event.

Working with ASCAP, Pereira co-wrote and created the song “World Cup, It’s Time!” as part of the ASCAP Songwriter Residency, a partnership with acclaimed after-school program America SCORES. Heitor Pereira is more well known as a blockbuster film composer (The Smurfs, Despicable Me), as well as the guitarist of English soul band Simply Red. He recorded the song with twenty 6th grade America SCORES students from Charnock Elementary School in Los Angeles, CA. “World Cup, It’s Time!” was recorded at Remote Control Productions, the renowned Santa Monica scoring company owned by Hans Zimmer, and is available to stream or download for free with the rest of the "ASCAP Songwriter Residency: Volume 6" album here.

Enjoy the video of the song's creation and learn more about the project below.

Oscar-winner Steve Maslow Plugs In Penteo 4 Pro

Pictured in a Warner Bros. session is award-winning re-recording mixer Steve Maslow. Photo by David Goggin.

-- Upmixer Now Supports AAX --
Los Angeles, CA, April 24, 2014 -- Multiple Oscar- and Bafta-winning re-recording mixer Steve Maslow has upgraded to the new Penteo 4 Pro plug-in that discretely converts stereo to 5.1, offering exacting control over sound image placement to create high-quality, natural-sounding surround.

"If I get 2-track source music, I use Penteo," Maslow comments. "It's impressive to take a 2-channel mix and make it come out of 5 speakers. I just finished a film called 'Tammy'. Every cue in that movie, from source needle drops to music score was all 2-track. The opening cue was a stereo record by the Allman Brothers that was released in 1986, and it worked great. I used Penteo from reel 1 to reel 6 and everything worked flawlessly."

When asked how he previously accomplished upmixing from stereo to surround, Maslow explained, "I would take the left and right track of a 2-track and run them through a couple of panners, fold it in a little bit so the left and right contributed to the center just a little bit. Then I would take a boom box, take a feed from the left and the right and return it to a fader to get the bottom end for the boom. That would give me left, center, right, boom. For left surround, right surround I would try to get a very short reverb to feed to the surrounds. That was the problem -- it would always put some sort of echo into the track."

Maslow, who is a 3-time Oscar winner and 2-time Bafta-winner, has worked on hundreds of films, including the recent "Non-Stop," starring Liam Neesen, last year's "The Great Gatsby," and classics such "Raiders of the Lost Ark," "The Empire Strikes Back", and "The Last Waltz."

"I used Penteo on last year's 'RED 2' with Bruce Willis and Hellen Mirren," Maslow recalls. "There was a lot of 2-track source music and even some of the score was 2-track. For me, Penteo is a very useful tool. I wouldn't do another film without it if 2-track music comes in. It really makes you look good when you can take a 2-track mix and create a 5-channel mix."

Maslow elaborates on the use of Penteo 4 Pro, "For the film I'm working on now, the music was 2-track strings, 2-tracks brass, 2-track percussion, so then I have to think about how I'm going to work with that. I can't just put them all left-right. Sometimes I used to take the percussion and put it in the center, but with Penteo, I just feed all the 2-channel mixes in and it comes out as a 5.1 score. That's what I want and it really sounds good."

In addition to mouse-operated controls, Penteo 4 Pro is the first up-mixer to support multi-touch controls, allowing a sound designer to control more than one Penteo feature at once, thereby creating a natural mixing experience through simple hand contact. Penteo 4 Pro is the world's first multi-touch plug-in designed for use with the Raven MTX Surround console.

"I find that a lot of 2-track mixes are very narrow and by using Penteo it gives me the hard center that I like," says Maslow. "When you're playing with a 2-track you just get left and right and a phantom center, not a hard center. Penteo gives me a hard center with that bottom end that I like, and it just fills the room up better than a 2-track does. Any two track that comes to me now is going through Penteo."

It is customary for a re-recording mixer to deliver a preliminary mix and then get feedback on revisions. "I usually am asked to make changes, but on the last show I just finished, I didn't get one note from the music department. Not one comment when we screened the film and they listened to it. Usually I would get some notes, but I got nothing, no critical notes at all. They loved everything, so it does make me look a little better because of the way the music comes out."

Once a film with a surround soundtrack is ready for distribution, it must also be compatible in stereo, as well. Penteo 4 Pro is 100-percent ITU down-mix compatible to the original stereo. The plug-in features an intuitive visual interface modeled after vintage gear, and offers six automated preset modes as well as advanced manual controls for fine-tuning.

For more information on Penteo 4 Pro, please contact your GC Pro representative here.

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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.

About Audiotech Digital Limited (ADL)
Penteo transforms any stereo recording, soundtrack, DJ mix or live television broadcast into perfect 5.1 surround sound. Developed by ADL, Penteo 4 Pro remains faithful to the original stereo mix; no artificial sound manipulation is used. The Penteo 4 Pro plug-in creates a perfect surround experience for all stereo media with zero sonic artifacts, crisp and discrete center-channel, and only Penteo is 100% ITU down-mix compatible to the original stereo. Penteo has been used by major studios on hundreds of films, TV shows and music recordings and supports AAX64, RTAS, VST and AU formats. Discover the world of Penteo at perfectsurround.com.

GC Pro Revs Up the Audio for Shelby American Bash

Few names in high-performance automotive design carry the weight of Shelby American. The company has been creating high-performance cars since the early 1960s, after founder Carroll Shelby retired from his brief racing career. Since then, cars like the Shelby Cobra as well as his famous Ford Mustang-based Shelby GT350 and Shelby GT500 have set the benchmarks for drivers with the need for speed.

Each year at the Shelby Motor Company headquarters in Las Vegas, Nevada, the company holds an annual event called the Shelby American Bash, where Shelby vehicle owners from across the country can come together and compare their vintage and new Shelby models. The event features live music and other events where audio needs to be loud and clear over the roaring of those race engines. For the past two years, GC Pro along with Guitar Center's Las Vegas Townsquare location have supplied the audio and lighting gear to make the event a huge success. Additionally, GC Pro staff assisted in setting up and doing the live sound engineering for bands performing at the event.

The 2014 Shelby Bash was particularly significant, with this being the 50th anniversary of the Ford Mustang. This year's event also commemorated the first time the Shelby Bash has been held in the newly relocated headquarters of Shelby American. Shelby's new HQ is located just off the strip, next door to Guitar Center’s Townsquare location. The new facility houses all operations of the Shelby American Motor Company, consolidating multiple buildings near the Las Vegas Motor Speedway into one single location that is easily accessible to tourists and motor enthusiasts.

For more information on Shelby American, click here. To learn how GC Pro can provide the gear and services you need for your most important live sound events, visit gcpro.com.

ShootersINC Streamlines Workflow with Slate RAVEN

— Integrated production company now runs an all-RAVEN facility —
WESTLAKE VILLAGE, CA, March 20, 2014 — Guitar Center Professional (GC Pro), the outside sales division of Guitar Center that focuses on the needs of professional users, is proud to be the exclusive U.S. dealer of the RAVEN MTX Multi-Touch Production Console by Slate Pro Audio. By getting the RAVEN MTX into the hands of top pros, GC Pro is helping leading facilities move to their next generation workflow – a recent prime example of which is the Philadelphia-based integrated production company ShootersINC.

Bob Schachner, the senior audio designer at ShootersINC, has worked on most of the company’s iconic content, from prime-time spots for clients including A&E, Lexus, The Weinstein Company, and Scripps Networks Interactive, to the original content they’ve been helping develop, such as the Food Network's hit Restaurant: Impossible. After keeping his Avid Pro Control working in one of Shooters’ three audio control rooms for nearly a decade after Avid announced it would discontinue the platform, he knew he had to move on. In doing so, he faced the same dilemma every working professional does when their most familiar tools approach obsolescence: finding new ones that are compatible with all of their other systems but that also manage to let them manage their workflow just as they had before. Schachner says he found that in the Slate Digital RAVEN MTX console, the third of which was installed at Shooters in November.

He and Brad Petrella, manager of engineering services at Shooters, had been on the lookout for a good replacement platform that would work for Schachner and Shooters’ other audio engineers. Then, last year, Schachner says he saw a video of the RAVEN MTX and was intrigued by its interface: a 46-inch LED backlit touch-sensitive display with 1920 X 1080 HD resolution and integrated compatibility with the HD3 Pro Tools systems Shooters uses. “Steven Slate had a good reputation for his plugins; I liked the way he made his graphical user interfaces for them,” says Schachner. “So we went to a demo of the RAVEN at GC Pro and thought it had the potential to do what I needed it to do.”

Schachner was curious whether the console, which had been aimed at the music production market, would meet his workflow needs in audio post. He was not disappointed: “I live in the edit window in post, not on the faders and knobs,” he explains. “So the transition to the touchscreen was perfect. On a touchscreen work surface, there’s nothing that I lose and I gain this huge screen, which makes everything on it easy to see and access. I found myself transitioning from the trackball to the touchscreen quickly – the RAVEN was installed on a Monday, I was working on it by Tuesday and was fully up to speed on it by Wednesday. There wasn’t any slowdown in the workflow.”

Within a month of the first console being installed, the entire facility had RAVEN MTX workstations in all three control rooms, and everyone was conversant with the RAVEN’s operation. “One of our guys is in a band and his engineer did some overdubs,” Schachner recalls. “I loaded his work into the system and gave him a quick two-minute tutorial on it. He had no problem with it at all. Basically, if you can work Pro Tools, the RAVEN MTX is going to be very familiar to you.”

“What we like about the RAVEN MTX is that it doesn’t demand that you learn it – it accommodates how you work, for instance, by letting you get started quickly and then allowing you to learn different shortcuts and other things at your own pace, as you need them,” observes Brad Petrella.

In the space of barely two months, Schachner says the RAVEN MTX has changed his work patterns for the better. “When you have faders, you’re constantly reaching all over the board, and that causes your head to be constantly moving, which affects your ability to monitor accurately,” he explains. “With the touchscreen in the center, I find that monitoring is much easier since I don’t have to move as much. Plus, with the Pro Tools screen on the console display and so much easier to see, I can see the waveforms better; I can read the plugins easier. Pro Tools is part of the console now. I feel more connected to the entire process. You don’t realize that that’s happening until it hits you. This is a great way to work.”

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.

Johnny A. Assembles Gear with GC Pro

— Working with GC Pro Senior Account Manager PK Pandey, Johnny A. finds the right gear for his unique production style, resulting in his acclaimed Driven LP —
WESTLAKE VILLAGE, CA, March 17, 2014 — Guitar Center Professional (GC Pro), the outside sales division of Guitar Center that focuses on the needs of professional users, has been working with veteran guitarist Johnny A. on his personal recording space, resulting in a custom studio suited to his unique production style and a new LP, Driven (set for pre-release on March 18 on Aglaophone Records), which he describes as his “dream album.” Seasoned as a producer, composer and instrumentalist, the Boston-area musician had not been comfortable taking on engineering duties by himself on previous projects, but he was determined to push himself to new levels for this album, and with the right combination of gear and hard work, he found new legs as an engineer.

Johnny A.’s resume includes time with Derek & the Dominos keyboardist Bobby Whitlock, CCR drummer Doug Clifford, Peter Wolf of the J. Geils Band and others, as well as a reputation for nuanced compositions, masterful playing and studio perfectionism (and a Gibson custom Johnny A. signature model to boot). Naturally, the bar was already high when he decided to outfit his studio and make a new album. His production techniques have evolved over the course of his years collaborating and producing his own and other’s records; he records his guitars direct, an approach that sets him apart from other guitarists and producers. And with the new project, he became comfortable as an engineer and mixer, adding those important skills to his already-impressive toolbox.

Working with GC Pro Senior Account Manager PK Pandey (based at GC Pro’s Boston office), Johnny A. set out to acquire a new console and a full complement of analog gear. Johnny A. recalls, “I had known PK for years, and over the course of this project, we got closer and closer, and now we’re like brothers. He was well aware of my production techniques, of recording mostly direct, and I asked for his recommendations on analog gear – good, better and best. He knew all the right tools for the job here, and unsurprisingly, we went with ‘best’ in every case!” The gear that they decided on included an SSL AWS 948 console, multiple Apogee Symphony systems, two Neve 1081A EQ’s, two Vintech X73 preamps, an SSL XLogic stereo compressor, a GML 8200 EQ, a pair of Universal Audio LA-3A Classic Audio Levelers, an Isochrone master clock from Antelope Audio, four Distressors, various items from Retro and Mercury Recording, a John Hardy Twin Servo preamp, a Logic setup and Addictive Drums software from XLN Audio.

Pandey remarked, “This has been an almost-three-year adventure, working with Johnny A. on getting his workflow right for this album. And with the AWS 948 console, everything turned out much wider, deeper, higher and warmer than it would have been otherwise. He recorded all the guitars and did the drum programming himself, along with all the production and mixing. He told me it’s his dream album, and I’m so proud to have had a part in getting him the right tools to bring his artist’s vision to fruition.”

Johnny A. is extremely satisfied with the result: “I guess I was a bit naïve in the beginning, thinking I could take on this whole album myself, but we made it happen. It was a daunting experience, but I’m blown away at the finished product. I expected it to live up to my expectations, but I didn’t expect it to exceed them so thoroughly. And I have to give thanks to PK and GC Pro for helping to bring this record to life. What a ride!”

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

Penteo 4 Pro Now Available

Audiotech Digital Ltd (ADL) has announced the release of the new Penteo 4 Pro plug-in that discretely converts stereo to 5.1, offering exacting control over sound image placement to create high-quality, sonic-free and natural-sounding surround.

Penteo 4 Pro is 100-percent ITU down-mix compatible to the original stereo. The plug-in features an intuitive visual interface modeled after vintage gear, and offers six automated preset modes as well as advanced manual controls for fine-tuning.

Mike Minkler, multiple Oscar-winning re-recording mixer at TODD-SOUNDELUX, explained, "I've used Penteo on almost every project for five years now, such as Django Unchained, Twilight Saga, and Inglourious Basterds. The new plug-in really shines. With a flick of a switch I can take a two-channel mix and get a quality 5.1 mix, which is a huge asset in these budget-conscious times, especially when independent films just can't afford more than a stereo source for me to work with."

Native AAX64 Support
Penteo 4 Pro now natively supports Avid Audio eXtension (AAX) for true 64 bit processing. As a result, Penteo 4 Pro AAX64 uses 52% less CPU processing power thereby allowing a sound designer more flexibility to simultaneously use more tracks in a mix than ever before.

"Penteo produces such a warm surround mix, and we are thrilled that now Penteo supports Avid's AAX64 format," said Ed Gray, Director, Avid Partnering Programs. "Now sound designers will benefit by being able to run more instances and tap all the new features of Pro Tools 11."

New Features
* Touch Screen Controls - In addition to mouse operated controls, Penteo 4 Pro is the first up-mixer to support multi-touch controls. Mixing is not a linear, sequential process -- Penteo's unique multi-touch interface allows a sound designer to control more than one Penteo feature at once, thereby creating a natural mixing experience through simple hand contact. Penteo 4 Pro is the world's first multi-touch plug-in designed for use with the Raven MTX Surround console.

* Pro Tools Automation Keyboard Shortcuts for all parameters - Quickly add and select parameters for automation using standard control/alt/cmd shortcuts.

* Usage Preferences - With choice of circular or vertical knob drag usage options, a sound designer can select the most natural feeling knob movement for mouse or multi-touch.

* New bypass channel routing - Stereo bypass channels now routes to the ProTools channel output standard.

Special Promotion Pricing
To celebrate Penteo's AAX release, from March 4 to April 16th, 2014, new purchases of any format of Penteo will receive 33% off the purchase price. Free trials are available here, and contact your GC Pro representative for more information.