424 POST RELIES ON GUITAR CENTER PROFESSIONAL
(Guitar Center | Posted 2009-04-23)
WESTLAKE VILLAGE, CA, April 23, 2009 -- Academy Award-nominated 424 POST (www.424post.com) is an all-digital postproduction sound facility based in Culver City, California, committed to meeting the needs of the entire range of postproduction sound projects, from sound design to editorial, for both big-studio projects and independent features. The company's credits include sound editorial work for major projects such as The Passion of the Christ, Apocalypto (for which 424 POST was nominated for an OSCAR®), Hostel, Takers, Obsessed and the television show Lincoln Heights. The company's principals and founders, Kami Asgar and Sean McCormack, who have recently finished working on the upcoming Tony Scott film The Taking of Pelham 123, note that a key partner in their success has been Guitar Center Professional (GC Pro), the outside sales division of Guitar Center that focuses on the needs of professional users, and with whom 424 POST has a long-standing relationship.
"We formed the company when we were asked to do the sound editorial work on The Passion of the Christ, we had no equipment to speak of," noted Asgar. "The first phone call we made was to GC Pro, and they set us up with the equipment and a financing plan for us to do that film. That was about six years ago. GC Pro has been there with our company since the beginning, and in fact prior to our company even being founded, we both had relationships with GC Pro and their personnel. We have definitely purchased the bulk of our equipment from GC Pro, and we continue to turn to them on a regular basis."
Most recently, 424 POST looked to GC Pro to provide a 32-fader Digidesign D-ControlTM Work surface. They purchased an additional 32-fader D-Control and three Pro Tools systems from GC Pro last year.
Meeting the industry's need for flexible post sound services, 424 POST uniquely works both at remote locations (often third party studios) and at the company's own state-of-the art facility, which is equipped with standalone Pro Tools systems in every room, as well as access to a 3.5-terabyte sound effects library, all of which is completely networked within the facility. McCormack: "We have eight editorial rooms that serve us well, but we also have to be pretty mobile, because today we could be working at Sony, tomorrow we could be doing a job at Warner Brothers, so much of the equipment we use can travel in cases." Asgar: "We have our tools from GC Pro, and there we go."
McCormack adds, "Service is key, and GC Pro nails it. Any time we've needed something, it was pretty expedient in getting to us, and they're not afraid to level with us and let us know if we should be getting a different product or going in a different direction. We trust GC Pro's opinion - they're always direct with us, it's as simple as that."
As a smaller outfit working with some of the biggest Hollywood projects of the past decade, 424 POST faces unique challenges, with which GC Pro is quick to help. McCormack notes, "Frankly, people who don't know us or haven't worked with us before might see us a 'mom-and-pop' operation. GC Pro helps us by helping us be a little bit more on the cutting edge of technology and helping us look outside the box on how the job needs to be done." Asgar adds, "You can call up Derek [Snyder, GC Pro Business Development, Western Region] or Bill [Learned, GC Pro Account Manager, Southern California] and let them know what we're facing with a certain project, and they put us in the right direction."
Purchasing power and industry respect are other reasons that 424 POST continues to rely on GC Pro. Asgar: "There have been times we need something that GC Pro doesn't normally carry, but with the amount of respect warranted to GC Pro in the industry, they can track it down for us, no problem. And those other manufacturers give us really quick turnarounds - they're downright excited to do business with us and GC Pro." McCormack adds, "The same goes with technical calls and troubleshooting. We were having problems with a console that we purchased from GC Pro. Immediately Derek got us on the phone with the manufacturer, and we were put to the front of the queue. They came out and fixed it right away. I think they even gave us a loaner unit to work on while they were fixing ours. All because of GC Pro's status in the marketplace. You can't get something like that when you get a console on an online auction."
Derek Synder notes, "As you can tell, my relationship with Kami and Sean is a good one - that's how I like it. I want my clients to be my friends whenever possible. When they call me up, it's not strictly a business call. We care about each other. I know they absolutely need to be on the cutting edge of the technology in their industry, so it's not a chore for me to do whatever I can to help them to keep on accomplishing that."
McCormack adds, "It's refreshing to be able to make a phone call and just get a direct answer from someone you know and trust, and that's what GC Pro gives us. You're not running around in circles trying to get what you need done. There's no smoke and mirrors."
For more information, please visit www.gcpro.com.
