Montreal's Musicopratik Rehearsal Studios Upgrades with QSC CP Series Loudspeakers

For 15 years, Musicopratik has been one of the premier band rehearsal studios in Montreal, and the only one in the artistically and culturally vibrant borough of Verdun. "We know we're not the only game in the whole city, so we like to stand out by offering our customers very high-quality equipment to practice on, from backline to speakers," says co-owner Patrick Mainville. Ever in pursuit of that high standard, Musicopratik recently swapped out every single main and monitor speaker in their rehearsal rooms for QSC CP12 compact active loudspeakers.

"We have five rehearsal rooms, ranging from 15' by 15' to about 20' by 24'. We also have a recording studio with a prep area, and the CP12s went in all of them," Mainville continues. "Since we started in 2005, we've owned many major brands of powered stage monitors except QSC. But when it came time to upgrade, we decided that the QSC CP12s sounded way better than any other option." Musicopratik reached out to SFM, the exclusive Canadian distributor of QSC, who collaborated with the facility on installing the new CP Series.

Mainville is versed in the technological features of the CP Series, such as the 1,000W of Class-D power for clean sound even at high SPL, the easily selectable EQ contours for various applications, and Advanced DSP with Intrinsic Correction for superior sound quality. Rather than tying the CP12s' sound to any particular spec or feature, though, he brings up how they solved a universal problem for bands: If the singer is not happy, nobody is happy.

"With previous speakers, we always had problems with singers being able to hear themselves in the mix with the rest of the band," he notes. "That would lead to the inevitable volume wars. Since we got the CP12s, we've received a lot of good comments from singers, who now say they can hear themselves much more clearly."

Mainville also noticed a detail that set the CP12s apart: their quietness. "We recently owned another major brand of powered monitors -- one of the biggest," he recalls. "Their amount of white noise was just awful, and their rep said this was probably because our electricity was dirty. When we switched to QSC, they were much quieter, with a noise floor I'd describe as below average. And we didn't have to do anything to our electricity!"

So far, Musicopratik has purchased 26 of the CP12 speakers, and Mainville predicts there are more to come. "We also do sound system rental," he says. "We're not competing with huge rental companies, but we think of ourselves more as the mom-and-pop corner store for our neighborhood, where a lot of musicians live. Because the CP12s are so compact and lightweight, and have such a nice shape, they're ideal for our rental business."

Mainville cites QSC's reputation for durability and reliability as equally important for both rental and in-house usage. "Around 2,000 clients per month pass through our doors," he says. "If you want to know whether your product is tough, we're pretty much the ideal testing ground. An amp or active speaker is liable to be turned on 30, 40, even 50 hours a week, with signal passing through it much of that time. We have had no problems, and in my opinion, the six-year warranty is proof QSC really stands behind what they make."

Price-performance ratio was the gravy on the poutine for Musicopratik. "As I said, we're always willing to spend a bit more money for higher quality," Mainville points out. "But for a 12" powered monitor, the CP12 costs less than just about all its competition, even though it sounds better. When we listened to them, it really was a no-brainer."

To learn more about Musicopratik, visit www.musicopratik.com.