Westlake Pro Audio
Explaining that Westlake Pro is nothing like a traditional music or audio store, George Adjieff, CEO and co-founder and President Joe Taupier of Westlake Pro describes the experience at the North Hollywood based state of the art Pro Audio store as “more like shopping at a recording studio.”
Whether their clients are seeking state of the art audio gear or want to build their home or commercial facilities from the ground up, Westlake offers a very friendly and knowledgeable staff, a comprehensive product selection, the ability to see and hear the products in a studio setting and fantastic, competitive prices in a clean and calm, professional environment.
Westlake Pro’s in-house Technical Services department can provide studio design and consultation, system installation, software configuration and networking, wiring, and furniture for small home studios to major studio installations. In addition, complete training packages can be customized for your needs. While most of Westlake’s clients seeking to build or enhance their studios are based in Southern California, they recently designed and installed ENZY Studios, a large music production facility, in Mumbai, India. Westlake caters to everyone from indie artists and producers setting up their own home studios to numerous corporations and individuals, including Oscar, Grammy, Emmy and Clio Award winners.
“Collectively, our staff has a tremendous amount of experience with all forms of audio production and live sound,” Adjieff says. “The sales and technical staff is constantly being challenged by, trained on and exposed to leading edge technology for the various markets they specialize in. From Music Production to Post Production and from House of Worship to Educational, our staff has seen and done it all. Our clients love taking advantage of their experience whether they’re contemplating buying a single piece of equipment or working through the many considerations in designing a system that will best suit their needs.
“There is no substitute for experience and no way to minimize the value of working with a skilled consultant who understands your objectives and workflow,” he adds. “Our experience, training and industry knowledge can be a valuable asset to you. There is more to sales than just selling.”
A dynamic element that sets Westlake Pro apart from any other retailer is two demo studios. Each studio is acoustically treated and set up to actually function. One studio is designed with an SSL AWS948 console as the centerpiece and the other studio is developed around an API 1608 console. All of the latest software is available, so clients can immediately, sit down and see and hear how any piece of equipment or a whole system will sound and perform.
“People forget sometimes just how important it is to just listen,” Taupier says. “People go through more speakers looking for the perfect set of speakers, when more often than not they are dealing with acoustic related problems with the room where they mix. They will never be satisfied until the room acoustics are addressed. Buyers often fixate on the sexy stuff, such as mixing consoles, the right mic pres, speakers and software etc. The listening environment is a critical element in the production process. My suggestion is to allocate the majority of your budget on the following: microphone, mic-pre, speakers and room treatment/design.”
Westlake Pro Audio offers the largest and most complete selection of name brand audio and recording equipment, computers, music and recording software, sound reinforcement and musical instruments, at guaranteed low prices. Other product categories offered are: technical services, consoles and components, console automation, recorders, synchronizers/interfaces, monitor/speaker systems, amps, signal processors, noise reduction/restoration systems, microphones, digital workstations, ISDN, sound effect libraries and support equipment.
Avid’s new Pro Tools 11 upgrade is among the most exciting new product offerings by Westlake. “The new software upgrade from Avid for Pro Tools really brings all of the new hardware to an entirely different performance level” says Taupier. Westlake Pro is an Avid Audio Elite dealer and one of the largest Avid Pro Tools dealers in the nation.
Adjieff stresses another distinguishing element that Westlake Pro brings to the process of buying: their team approach, where the in-house technical services staff works closely with the sales staff to ensure the best outcome for the client. “There is a great deal of detail work to complete in order to make an informed buying decision,” he says.
By Jonathan Widran
Contact: Westlake Pro Audio 323-845-1145 or on the web at www.westlakepro.com
