Pro Audio Star employee Spencer Sipers in front of thousands of boxes of audio equipment. — Photos by Aaron Short

When Ad Hoc Art closed in January, it took all of ten minutes for the building’s landlord to find a replacement.

“We were on our way down the stairs with a contract signed for another space and Phyllis (the building’s landlord) literally grabbed me by the arm and showed us the space,” said Pro Audio Star owner Ron Wolf.

On February 1st, Pro Audio Star packed its music equipment and moved from 304 Boerum Street into 49 Bogart Street, the former home of Ad Hoc Art gallery, which has since partnered with next-door gallery Eastern District. The art world has given way to the music retail business, a lucrative and growing industry.

	Pro Audio Star 49 Bogart Street 888-890-6222 Mon-Fri 9am-7pm
	Employee Wayan Zoey holds a super multi-track looper.

“Pro audio is a field that apparently has room for expansion in these times.  DJs’ dreams are a dime a dozen,” said Ad Hoc Art founder Garrison Buxton, who facilitated the move.

Those familiar with the former gallery will find the new space considerably different. Gone is the dividing wall that separated the front room from Ad Hoc’s screenprinting materials and their back office. Gone, also, are the personal mementos Ad Hoc has accumulated over the years, such as the Skewville sign, posters from Gaia and Stain, and a number of murals that have been whitewashed. Only the mural on the right-hand wall from Stain’s last exhibition remains, though it, too, will soon disappear.

The primarily web-based four-year-old music retailer has moved in and made a few changes. The first-floor space is teeming with rows of thousands of boxes of audio equipment and DJ gear stacked like containers of microfilm in a university library, with esoteric names like Torq Xponent, NS7 DJ Controller, and Vestax VCI-300. There is even a fog machine section for theatrical performers.

“It seems like we are going to be impersonal, but we work hard with the customer to cut them better deals,” said Wayan Zoey, a Sales Engineer with Pro Audio Star. “We’re not dealing with ridiculous overhead like Guitar Center.”

And also unlike its large corporate competitors, Pro Audio Star began selling high tech audio equipment, microphones, amplifiers, and electronic turntables for DJs and solo performers before expanding towards musical instruments like electronic harmonicas. Soon there may be keyboards and guitars for sale.

“We started out selling to recording engineers and DJs, and churches,” said Zoey. “We get a lot of requests from churches for their presentations, which range from a standard sermon to a full gospel choir. They don’t necessarily have microphones and speaker systems.”

A Stain mural leftover from Ad Hoc, will soon be painted over.

According to Wolf, the company conducts almost 4,000 transactions a month, about 5 percent with Brooklyn customers, though they hope to expand their market share locally.

To do that, their website will feature local DJs and bands who are regular customers, including a new blog administered by webmaster Brian Dillon.

“It will allow local customers to showcase their bands and promote Brooklyn artists and local talent. The goal is to get as many musicians on the site [as possible].”

Some customers of other music retailers in Manhattan have already poked their heads in or stopped by the store for a look around, which hasn’t even held its grand opening yet. Wolf, who operated Pro Audio out of the Navy Yard before moving to East Williamsburg, is encouraged by the early local interest in the business.

“This is the best area yet,” said Wolf. “Everywhere I go in the city, I only become more convinced that this is the best area for us. People can come off the subway from the city; UPS trucks can back right up to the building. It’s great.”

The symbolism of the changing nature of the art business, embodied by the conversion of an art gallery to an online music retail supplier is not lost on Pro Audio’s staff.

“(Musicians) have a greater degree of self-determination in the arts,” said Zoey. “For painters, there always has to be a patron of sorts to give them a place to hang up their paintings and actors need someone to give them theater space to mount their productions. Whereas in music, someone has to save a few dollars to get their music equipment together. There’s a greater degree of self-promotional ability.”