César Vilar identified some of the most important business challenges, such as the development of innovation strategies in a market that has a saturation of bidders.
AVI LATIN AMERICA
By 1979 César Vilar had already been participating as a musician (guitarist and singer) in the Alfa 8 for several years and given his fondness for music in general, especially tropical music at that time, it became a very great desire to have sound systems of a decent quality for his group. That's how he undertook the task of spending all his money on audio equipment such as microphones, consoles, etc. Those were the first steps of our Professional of the Month in the AV industry.
"In this way I was developing the interest in knowing about speakers, the behavior of the sound, brands, models, etc. and at some point, at the end of 1984, being the owner of the system with which the Alfa 8 sounded, I realized that it was time to look for a new horizon, because it was increasingly difficult to perform the two functions of musician and sound engineer. By December 31, 1985, my time as a musician ended and the activity of the C. Vilar company began informally, but always with first technology equipment," he said.
He assured that he always had a very good ear and although he does not have academic training in music, he knew how it worked to make musical arrangements and in this way, helped by a copyist, he spent a long time making the arrangements of the themes for the Alfa 8. Something similar happened in relation to sound engineering, because not existing as a career in Colombia and the impossibility of traveling to study permanently because he was married and having children, he had the idea of studying with the best teachers that were at hand and so permanently over time he has been training continuously, with instructors such as: Don & Carolyn Davis, Pat Brown, Roger Scott Nichols, Bruce Swedien, Albert Harry Schmitt, R Scovill, among others.
"I have taken all the possible courses and trainings that are taught in order to be at the forefront of technology in terms of knowledge. Throughout all these years I have only worked in my company, which remains my center of operation, and has also served as a hotbed for many engineers and technicians of the medium who currently have their own companies or work with important artists or theaters, "said César Vilar.
A shared passion
Of his two marriages, César Vilar has 5 children. The 2 oldests (Leonardo and Mauricio) were his natural companions to share that time of the beginning of the company, developing since childhood the taste for music and everything related to sound engineering.
Leonardo studied electroacoustic design at Columbia College in Chicago and Mauricio recording and mixing engineering at Full Sail in Orlando. From a very early age he was always accompanied to seminars and audio fairs in the US and it was something very particular to see the father with his children studying or, sometimes, in concerts working together as engineers in the same place.
"With Leonardo we had several interesting experiences because he started at a very young age operating large concerts. At the age of 14 he was the engineer of monitors of the entire concert of the Meneito in the Estadio el Campín. At the age of 15 he traveled with Carlos Vives as an engineer to Radio City Music Hall in NY and then to Spain and always caused great impact to entrepreneurs, artists and rental companies his young age and his technical solvency, "he recalled.
His 3 youngest children (Daniel, Alejandro and Laura) were interested in Graphic Design, Biomedical Engineering and Psychology and are currently in college.
Industry Milestones
"Our link with the audiovisual industry was the result of the interest that the Jorge Vásquez company from Medellín produced in us, which in the 80's and 90's was the largest in the country. The initial focus of our company was to have smaller stock but with outstanding quality. Although at the beginning we worked very closely with politics and the government sector, with the passage of time we ended up doing more work with artists."
In this regard, he recalled some of the milestones achieved in more than 30 years in the market:
First Metallica concert in Colombia. At that time there was no company that covered the needs of the concert and for this reason 2 companies were hired: C Vilar to put the main team, and Jorge Vázquez to place relays and support of subwoofers.
Sound of the first versions of the Rock al Parque festival and designed the current way the festival works in terms of House Mix position and relays to favor the public. This year they made all the production and live audio mixing of the presentation of the Philharmonic Orchestra of Bogotá for the closing of the 25 years of Rock al Parque.
The first company with a Line Array technology team in Colombia.
They have accompanied tours and great concerts by artists such as Juanes, Shakira and Carlos Vives.
They installed the sound of the 3 most important theaters in Bogotá: Teatro Mayor Julio Mario Santodomingo, Media Torta and Colsubsidio.
They were pioneers bringing the first digital consoles in the country.
They were the audio company selected by Paul Mc Cartney's team to supply 100% of the amplification equipment used in the concert in Bogotá.
Pioneers in the production of music TV programs with live sound, post-produced with multitrack recorders in RCN. The same standard was implemented by C Vilar and adopted by Caracol TV for all its talent shows.
They designed and performed the sound of the largest Mass in Bogota with Pope Francis on his visit to Colombia in 2017.
Challenges in the AV industry
Supported by his long career in this industry, César Vilar identified some of the most important business challenges, such as the development of innovation strategies in a market that presents saturation of bidders with increasingly large inventories. "This produces harmful effects in the market, such as price decreases and the presence of competitors willing to give away in order to keep the business. It's not that the competition is bad, just that there is such an amount of supply and little demand, you get to artificially low prices."
Another challenge is to be able to count on staff who understand the DNA of the company, in which the work is focused on the client and their expectations. To create really trained work teams that can function autonomously and without so much supervision. In this regard, he said that "It is very gratifying to see so many top-level Colombian musicians touring different countries with almost 100% national technical staff. We have witnessed the professional growth of many of these technicians and producers for whom we have a great level of appreciation and admiration because we have grown together."
Hobbies
Our Professional of the Month has always been interested in everything related to folklore, both in Colombia and world music, especially Brazilian music. He also loves topics related to spirituality and for that reason his world passes a little isolated from the social part.
"I am a sports person on a daily basis, I do uninterrupted exercise routines for 10 years. At the moment I focus on having good eating habits, although I can not declare myself vegetarian, most of my diet is vegetables and I am a great lover of wine with meals. Whenever we can, we fly to technology fairs in the US, Europe or China," he concluded.
