GC Pro Unveils Spanish-Language Microsite

GC Pro Spanish Homepage Screenshot.

— Featuring many of the same resources as its English-language counterpart, GC Pro’s new Spanish page is geared toward the growing Latino audio community —
WESTLAKE VILLAGE, CA, December 4, 2014 — Guitar Center Professional (GC Pro), the outside sales division of Guitar Center that focuses on the needs of professional users, announces a new Spanish-language microsite at GCPro.com. Intended to serve the U.S.’s growing Latino audio community, the new section of the site will be updated regularly and will offer the same types of resources as its English-language counterpart: GC Pro installation profiles, account manager contact information, product spotlights and more. The microsite is accessible by clicking on “GC Pro en Español” on the right-hand side of the English-language main page.

Derek Snyder, GC Pro Director, Western Region, notes, “A cool feature of the site allows Spanish speakers to either chat live with one of our GC Pro call center associates or be connected to six regionally positioned account managers who are fluent in both the Spanish language and the unique needs of Latin American music professionals.”

“In an effort to better serve Spanish-speaking producers, engineers, artists, studio owners and GC Pro affiliates, we have introduced this new section of our site,” stated Rick Plushner, GC Pro Vice President. “We are a strong supporter of all types and traditions of music-making, and the Latin music scene in the U.S. has grown from a niche market to a mainstream juggernaut. We have built a firm relationship with this community – for instance, GC Pro was a proud sponsor of the recent ‘En La Mezcla’ Latin GRAMMY® Week P&E Wing event at Studio at the Palms in Las Vegas – and we look forward to continuing to serve this community for years to come – on our site, in our physical GC Pro locations and in the field.”

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

===

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.

Global Harvest Church Gets Help from GC Pro

Global Harvest Church in Carrollton, Texas, featuring upgraded AV components sourced through GC Pro.

— GC Pro shows the value of relationships as it helps Global Harvest Church move to its new space with the right technology, installation and service —
WESTLAKE VILLAGE, CA, December 1, 2014 — As churches expand, break off, or move into new spaces, they often need help finding the right mix of AV technology to let them get off the ground as successfully as possible. That’s exactly what Guitar Center Professional (GC Pro), the outside sales division of Guitar Center that focuses on the needs of professional users, was able to do for the new Global Harvest Church, in Carrollton, Texas, earlier this year.

For years, Global Harvest Church shared worship spaces with the New Song Church, also in Carrollton, but more recently members of the existing congregation sought to express their own worship style with their own separate worship facility. New Song Church has been a long-time customer of GC Pro, which had sourced audio and video products for the church in the past. Thus, the founders of Global Harvest Church became familiar with GC Pro’s vast inventory, competitive pricing and extensive knowledge of the entire AV spectrum of technology, and in particular with GC Pro’s Affiliate Program, which pairs clients who need AV installation/integration services with vendors with specific capabilities to fit those needs. In this case, the nascent church’s leadership approached GC Pro’s Dallas office with their plan, and GC Pro stepped up to help them accomplish this smoothly.

Beginning a year ago, GC Pro Senior Account Manager Jeffrey McDaniel began coordinating between the church and Omnicoustics, a local AV integration company that is a member of the GC Pro Affiliates Program. As plans with the new church’s architects began to come together, GC Pro and Omnicoustics owner Adrian Gamez developed AV systems designs that would perfectly integrate into the church’s physical architecture. These include a sound system featuring a DB Technologies DVA T4 powered line array, two DB DVA-S20DP Dual 18-inch powered subwoofers, a Symetrix SymNet® Open Architecture Dante® Scalable DSP processor, and Sennheiser handheld wireless microphone and in-ear monitor systems. Video components include a Blackmagic Designs router and SDI converters and Panasonic cameras, and three Apple iMac Quad Core computers, as well as lighting components from Chauvet.

“We’d had a lot of time to get to know them,” McDaniel says of the founders of the new church. “And they knew us from all the work we had done together at New Song over the years. We knew each other as people as well as professionals, and that makes a huge difference, especially in the house-of-worship category, where trust in who you’re dealing with is everything.”

The choice of Omnicoustics proved to be a good one for the church. Company owner Adrian Gamez recalls that the church, which has a fairly low ceiling, specifically wanted a line array sound system. “That’s usually not a good combination,” says Gamez, who analyzed the space using EASE software and determined that the DB Technologies T4 line array would be a good solution. “GC Pro sourced that for us, as well as all the other equipment and products we needed,” he says. “There’s a good balance between what we do and what GC Pro is best at that really delivers a great end result for the client.”

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

===

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.

State Theatre Updates Audio Systems with GC Pro

The front-of-house engineer position at State Theatre in Falls Church, Virginia, featuring gear sourced through GC Pro.

WESTLAKE VILLAGE, CA, November 24, 2014 — The nearly century-old venue State Theatre in Falls Church, Virginia, opened its doors in 1936 but closed down in 1988. Luckily, it later underwent a multi-million-dollar restoration and renovation that both buffed up its Art Deco design elements and added modern sound and lights with a 20-foot video screen, turning it into one of the leading live music venues in the region, sporting a wide-open dance floor and 200 seats in the restored balconies. The State Theatre just got another upgrade, this one to its audio and lighting systems, with all components sourced through Guitar Center Professional (GC Pro), the outside sales division of Guitar Center that focuses on the needs of professional users.

The new audio and lighting components include an RCF dual-hang line array sound system, managed by a dbx DriveRack 4800 speaker processor and mixed through an Avid SC48 VENUE digital FOH console. There is also a new High End Systems Road Hog 4 lighting control console and 16 new Chauvet LED and PAR lighting fixtures. All of these components were installed by Koko Brothers Entertainment, a proud member of the GC Pro Affiliate Program.

“That’s one of the things we love about working with GC Pro — any product we think we might need on a job, GC Pro will always be able to get it for us,” says Angelo Kokkinakos, who with his brother Lou owns and operates Koko Brothers Entertainment. The Baltimore-based firm is one of an elite group of approved vendors in the GC Pro Affiliate Program, which includes a growing number of award-winning companies and individuals who specialize in key areas of professional audio systems design, integration and installation.

“There were a couple of challenges,” says Angelo Kokkinakos. “It’s an old, landmarked building, so there’s not much you can do from an acoustics point of view, because the historical nature of the interior must be maintained. The owner” — Thomas Carter, who with a partner bought the State Theatre and brought it back to life — “wanted better sound. What had been in there was a ground-stacked system, which was good, but the coverage was uneven; it needed a number of under-balcony fills to make it work. Working with Jonah [Joffe, GC Pro Account Manager based at the Washington, D.C.-area office], we determined that a flown line array would be the best choice.”

State Theatre in Falls Church, Virginia, featuring gear sourced through GC Pro.

“When we explored the different options and prices [for the P.A. system], the RCF came up as the right solution for the job,” says Angelo. “And once we had it installed, it really exceeded our high expectations. And that’s what I mean about working with GC Pro: whatever we might ask for, they’ll always tell us, ‘No problem! We can get that!’ And if something comes up in the middle of the project, like it did here when we discovered that the crawl space between the FOH position and the stage was longer than the snake we had specified, no problem — GC Pro and Whirlwind worked together to get us the items we needed to modify the snake.”

On working with GC Pro, Angelo notes, ““It’s a great partnership,” says Angelo Kokkinakos. “Every project has turned out exactly the way it’s supposed to. Clients love that!”

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

===

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

Perry, Georgia’s New Hope Baptist Church

Perry, Georgia’s New Hope Church, featuring upgraded audio, video and lighting solutions designed by and sourced through GC Pro.

— GC Pro acts as a one-stop shop for church’s AVL needs, including systems design and integration, readying the facility for a new generation of worshipers —
WESTLAKE VILLAGE, CA, November 20, 2014 — The New Hope Baptist Church of Perry, Georgia, intimately understands the need for AV technology for communicating its message. But like many churches, New Hope needed help figuring out what would best suit its needs. That’s where Guitar Center Professional (GC Pro), the outside sales division of Guitar Center that focuses on the needs of professional users, came into the picture. GC Pro account manager Brad Lyons met with the church’s leaders and offered a turnkey solution that comprehensively addressed audio, video and lighting in a single package.

GC Pro brought in one of its Affiliate Program members, locally-based Commercial Sound and Video, to implement all of these integrated solutions. They included a single-point line JBL VRX932 line array above the church’s front area with JBL CBT70J side-fills on each side. Three JBL PRX718XLF self-powered subwoofers were cut into the stage and installed. The choir monitor is a single JBL CTB70J1 line array cabinet behind the VRX line array. This is all powered by nine Crown XTI2002, XTI4002 and XLS1500 power amps. A new 32-channel Soundcraft Expression console with a 32x8 stage box is connected via CAT5.

Congregants gathered at Perry, Georgia’s New Hope Church, featuring upgraded audio, video and lighting solutions designed by and sourced through GC Pro.

“The best feature is we put this on a wireless network, allowing control from the floor and on-stage with an iPad, especially useful considering the booth is a room in the upstairs back corner part of the sanctuary,” explains Lyons. “Another huge feature was being able to program the console and lock-out controls for the volunteer team so that they have perfect sound every week.”

For video, two new Panasonic PTDW640 projectors now illuminate a pair of new 12-foot-wide Da-Lite screens. A newly installed Blackmagic ATEM1/ME video switcher has become the centerpiece of the entire facility. “We re-purposed an old projector and screen to be used as a rear-wall confidence monitor,” Lyons explains. “The Blackmagic allows us to send independent video sources to the two front screens as well as the rear-screen. This has really increased the effectiveness of the church’s video system.” In addition, a new Blonder Tongue QME Modulator allows them to distribute live video and audio to previously installed televisions in the foyer, kitchen, pastor’s office, treasurer’s office, fellowship hall and other overflow areas. A new lighting package consists of two Chauvet Ovation 165w LED fresnels and a Chauvet Ovation 190 ellipsoidal that now provide a dramatic improvement to lighting the pulpit.

What really made the difference for New Hope Baptist Church was how GC Pro was able to offer a comprehensive solutions approach for all of the church’s AVL needs. “The great thing is that Brad [Lyons] speaks their language,” says Nathan Miller, owner of Commercial Sound and Video. “Churches aren’t residential or commercial — they are their own category and have unique needs and requirements. GC Pro understands that, and that’s why they’ve been so successful in this category. We ‘get’ what churches need. And only GC Pro is positioned, through its sales, inventory, sourcing and integration resources, to provide that kind of service.”

Willie Williams, long-time member and project manager for New Hope, went on to say, “We couldn’t be more pleased with the upgrade investment our church has made. In fact, we continue to receive compliments on just how much better everything looks and sounds. There are a few more projects we need to tackle, but we are happy and excited to be working on these projects with both GC Pro and Commercial Sound and Video.”

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

===

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.

===

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.

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.

===

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.

Central Baptist Church Gets a Makeover with GC Pro

— GC Pro Account Manager Brad Lyons and GC Pro Affiliate Program Member Commercial Sound And Video take Central Baptist Church into the era of contemporary worship with new sound system including digital audio console, in-ear monitoring and upgraded backline —

WESTLAKE VILLAGE, CA, October 29, 2014 — The last time the Central Baptist Church of Americus, Georgia, got a new sound system, the church’s music was focused around the traditional elements of choir and organ. Times changed, and so did the church’s style of worship, which has expanded to encompass more contemporary forms of praise and worship music, with electric guitars and drums joining the joyful noise. These changes, however, made the inadequacy of the original sound system readily apparent. That led the church to Guitar Center Professional (GC Pro), the outside sales division of Guitar Center that focuses on the needs of professional users.

Atlanta-based GC Pro Account Manager Brad Lyons spent time listening to the needs of the church and helped design a completely new sound system, including connecting them with locally based AV systems integrator Commercial Sound And Video, which provided installation services. And it was a big project. Lyons summarized the situation: “Some areas were too loud, others you could barely hear anything at all, and no bass response,” he says of the sanctuary’s sound system. “On-stage monitoring for the band was a hodge-podge at best. We transformed their entire sound system, customizing it to the unique challenges in their large worship space, but we also re-designed the stage layout and provided a state-of-the-art personal monitoring system for the large praise team and orchestra.”

A new system using four Electro-Voice EVF1152D 15-inch cabinets was flown above the main floor in a 90x60 coverage pattern, and each with an Electro-Voice EVU1082 8-inch downfill cabinet mounted. A total of eight Electro-Voice EVU1082 fill cabinets were placed in the balcony, four per side. A pair of Electro-Voice EVF2151D Dual 15inch subwoofers fills the entire sanctuary with powerful bass. The power amps are Electro-Voice CPS-series power amps, with control using an Electro-Voice DC-ONE system processor. The existing 48-channel analog mixer (with 16-channel auxiliary mixer) was replaced with a 64-channel AVID S3L console with four independent stage boxes. Three racks on-stage and one at the FOH booth completely bypass the original analog patching system, providing a superior upgrade in sound and eliminating cable mess on the stage. The AVID S3L also provides 64-tracks recording to Pro Tools connected via CAT5 to the supplied Apple iMac computer and Glyph hard-drive, designed for playback in virtual sound check mode. This allows them to record rehearsals, then play the tracks back to fine-tune the individual channel settings for a better mix.

“With the S3L there is full recall of all settings and scenes,” stated Lyons. “Every Easter they have a big production and this will allow them to have total control of the production.”

Based on Lyons’ design, Commercial Sound And Video installed a PIVITEC 32-input personal monitor system controlled via Apple iPad Minis with a total of nine independent mix stations and the ability to add as many more as they wish. There were many custom touches, with the goal of making the operation as simple as possible. One such feature was a customized patch panel consisting of eight XLR Male and eight SPEAKON connectors that took the guesswork out of connecting a stage monitor into the system.

Lyons adds, “Although the PIVITEC in-ear system was an amazing upgrade for the worship band, we still needed to provide traditional monitors to the choir, instruments, lead vocals and other musicians. Typically I would have to go find a speaker, a power amp and the cables, route a channel out of the console into the amp, connect a speaker cable to the speaker, and so forth. But here I designed the panel to take any confusion or error out of the situation. The process is simple really — I designed eight specific outputs from the VENE S3L console for MONITOR MIX OUTPUTS, labeled MONITOR 1 through MONITOR 8. Patching into any of the XLR Inputs of the panel fed directly to a specific amplifier channel on the Electro-Voice CPS8.5 power amp (eight channels at 500-watts power per channel), and that speaker output then fed back to the SPEAKON out below the XLR connector. You can simply plug in a speaker cable to the desired speaker, and voila!”

The result was a total success and everyone associated with the church is extremely happy with the new system.

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

===

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.