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Avid and Westlake Pro: 25 Years and Counting
When you buy Avid products from Westlake Pro, you’re inheriting the benefits of a long-standing partnership between the two companies: more personalized and knowledgeable service, and the best pricing, guaranteed.
No two studios are identical, and that’s why a workflow-oriented attention to detail is important to us. We understand that each S3, S4, or S6 sale requires a specific integration and support plan that fits the space in which it will be installed—and we sell and install more Avid systems around the world than any other dealer.
But that’s not the only reason Universal, Disney, The Village Recorder, Warner Brothers, and more all come to us when they need to buy Avid hardware and software. To fully explain, we’ll need to share a little audio engineering history…
Avid and Westlake Pro’s President, Joe Taupier, have been working together since the early days of the digital audio revolution. When Avid (formerly known as Digidesign), expanded the track count in Pro Tools from eight to twenty-four to forty-eight (Session 8 to D24 to Mix), Joe knew it was what every engineer and musician were waiting for. As a result, Joe attended the first-ever training program in 1999 to learn all about the new multitrack recording/editing system. Having learned how to operate, install, and configure Pro Tools software and hardware systems, Joe was able to help support his clients through the early growing pains of Pro Tools.
Having entered the industry as a musician, he had a lot of friends who were in successful bands. Joe knew how the record labels burdened new artists with the residual costs of the large recording studios. He decided to approach his musician friends about investing in themselves by purchasing a Pro Tools Mix system. His idea was that if it didn’t work out with the label, the band would still have a way of being able to record themselves and develop their craft. At first, the labels pushed back on the artists until the producers and engineers joined the fight.
The idea, while radical at the time, caught on quickly. Joe and Westlake went on to sell and install more Avid HD interfaces than anyone else in that first year—1.8 million dollars’ worth.
The relationship didn’t stop with musicians. Around the same time, post-production houses started to recognize the enormous time-saving benefits of editing audio digitally rather than cutting tape.
Our local Avid rep remembers visiting Westlake back then, watching Joe bounce from phone call to phone call with engineers and studio managers who were installing Pro Tools systems in their mixing rooms, ADR studios, and dub stages.
As Avid grew its product line, Westlake Pro grew alongside them. Over the years we’ve maintained a close partnership, offering stellar onsite support and the best pricing on Avid hardware and software. Our award-winning sales staff and studio design group have sold and installed more Avid S6 consoles than any other company on the planet. We’ve installed them in massive Atmos dub stages, and in small mixing rooms.
When you buy Avid products from Westlake Pro, you’re inheriting the benefits of a long-standing partnership between the two companies: more personalized and knowledgeable service, and the best pricing, guaranteed.
We outfitted this Atmos Mixing Room in Hollywood, CA with a JBL 7-series Dolby Atmos system, an Avid S6, two Avid MTRX base units loaded with Dante, MADI, AES, SDI and Digilink option cards, and two SCM50ASL Pro monitors.
The Village Recorder has been home to an eclectic assortment of musicians and producers, from Bob Dylan, John Lennon, B. B. King, Aerosmith, The Beach Boys, Mariah Carey, Johnny Cash, Ray Charles, Eric Clapton, Elvis Costello, The Doors, George Harrison, The Eagles, Guns N’ Roses, and Elton John to current artists including John Mayer, Taylor Swift, Lady Gaga, and Coldplay.
When they decided to upgrade one of their rooms with an S6, they came to us.
