— In the fast-paced world of broadcast commercials, Beacon Street Studios finds that time is its most precious commodity, and GC Pro’s full-service capability means Beacon Street can focus on the music while GC Pro finds the right gear —
Beacon Street Studios in Venice, California, is a unique kind of place, where major international advertising firms, including BBDO, Ogilvy & Mather and DDB, have their clients’ music created for broadcast spots, such as the five commercials for Career Builder, Hyundai, Bridgestone and Gatorade that they scored for the Super Bowl this year. At the same time, music artists including Hootie & the Blowfish and April Hendrix, and noted music producers like Don Was and Ed Cherney, have also found Beacon Street Studios – a space once occupied by the legendary Joni Mitchell – to be a creative haven for their art. Being such an in-demand facility keeps their calendar busy, and as they were looking to update several studio components, the biggest issue was time. Fortunately, Guitar Center Professional (GC Pro), the outside sales division of Guitar Center that focuses on the needs of professional users, helped the studio find the right gear effectively and efficiently, determining what new equipment was needed to help the facility keep up with demand. With GC Pro on its side, Beacon Street was able to keep the focus where it needs to be – on the music.
GC Pro Account Manager Rich Avrach recommended the two new Avid Pro Tools HD3 systems and new Apple MacPro® computers that would join the four other Pro Tools systems that Beacon Street had already purchased through GC Pro. Other new purchases included an Antelope Audio Isochrone OCX-V video-optimized master clock with built-in video generator, a Dangerous Music MONITOR ST-SR Stereo and Surround Monitor Control System, an Avalon VT-747SP stereo spectral-opto-compressor and 6-band program equalizer, a Grace Design m906 5.1 and Stereo High Fidelity Monitor Controller and ADAM A7 monitors, as well as several Waves Diamond TDM bundles a number of Sennheiser and Neumann microphones. And this was just some of the gear that GC Pro experts recommended to enable Beacon Street to increase its productivity without impeding the studio’s workflow and creative processes.
“The biggest advantage we get from GC Pro is time – time not spent looking through vast amounts of product information, researching prices and time spent holding on the phone,” says John Nau, Composer and Co-Owner of Beacon Street Studios. “Time is one thing we can’t make any more of, and with GC Pro we can use our time for our clients instead of chasing down information about products and technologies.”
Nau also likes the sense of trust that working with GC Pro has engendered: he knows he’ll always get the best prices, have access to full technical support, and be able to tap into a wide range of other services (such as systems and acoustic design) if necessary. “If we need someone to walk us through some new things, Rich makes sure that we get that kind of support, and without it taking time away from serving our clients,” says Nau. “GC Pro always gets us what we need quickly and efficiently. In this business, it’s all about time, and GC Pro makes sure we can use our time well.”