His Guiding Light + Band in Charleroi, PA

SEEKING

ABOUT

My name is Richard, sometimes known as Oz or LB. I have a music production company called Salvation Sound for a newly formed band called His Guiding Light. Between our key personel we have a total of more than 100 years experience in live performance, sound reinforcement, lighting and studio recording. My principal efforts currently involve preparing the live sound and lighting, as well as recording, for a regional touring, Christian women’s quartet as well as for HGL, a Christian jazz band.

We do almost exclusively originals in a jazz style with influences of latin, acoustic, rock, country, pop and broadway. This is a concert and festival type band. It is NOT a garage band, jam band, bar band or dance band. We are in preproduction for our recording release this fall and for playing in several concerts as the openers for Cool Hip Priest, White Cross, and Fair Warning. We will be participating in several high resolution live streaming concerts as well.

We are also looking for a jazz or rock guitarist for lead/rhythm guitar, and a cellist. We have an excellent jazz drummer and a very good multi-genre electric bassist. We are also considering adding a baritone or tenor male vox. We’ve not had a male singer but are seriously considering adding one that can do at least some leads and add some other musical skills. A cellist that can sing would be awesome. The ability to read sheet music and/or to write music and lyrics would be wonderful. Being a quick study is essential. Not ready for overnighters, look elsewhere.

Our primary singers are two women that have over 40 years of touring experience and numerous CDs between them. One has sung on and off broadway including starring in Tommy as the first Acid Queen. The other has toured for the last 14 years. Our keyboardist/songwriter has played professionally for 40 years and has written lyrics and music for the likes of Sandy Patti, Barbara Streisand, and several multinational charities. Our third singer plays fiddle, cello, piano, mandolin and ukulele and has her degree in performance music. I am the Sound Engineer and have toured with numerous bands and have been doing sound for 50+ years for every genre from metal to acoustic to jazz to classical and more. I, too, have a degree in Performance Music.

We have been blessed with a very substantial and comprehensive sound rig. It can be configured for nearly any size venue. Additionally, we have a very high resolution Dante/Ethernet and Waves based, 48 input, 48 output, multichannel, digital Server and recording system featuring a MacBook Pro with Presonus Studio 1 4.0. Additionally, we have an even higher resolution digital mastering mix down system. Finally, we have a superb backline set up in our rehearsal space located in Charleroi. The photos show the rehearsal space and backline.

Our commitment is to excellence in these efforts as is evidenced by the quality of every piece of equipment in our inventory. We are seeking at least one more person for "touring" to various live events at schools, colleges, churches, festivals, concerts and other live events in the tri-state region or the east coast, as well as hospitals and care centers for those who cannot come out to see our programs in the normal public venues. This last is crucial as we very much believe in giving back.

Recently, my sound crew have done the sound for and with Petra, Stryper, Fair Warning, White Cross, Cool Hip Priest, Shepherd's Voice, As We Are, We Are Vessel, Commander Cody, eh440, From the Top, Thrive, Risen to Save, Joshua Generation, YWAM, Red Letter Hymnal, Gospel Alliance, Journey by Grace, Dean and Mary Brown, and New Wine Harvest amongst others. Additionally, we have engineered sound for numerous weekend music festivals like Praise in the Park, Concert in the Park, National Women of Destiny Conferences, A Day of Hope and numerous private events in Jumonville, Sandy Cove, Nashville, Palm Coast, and one day festivals in Virginia, NC, SC GA, FLA, Alabama, KY, TX, TN, WV, OH, NY, DE, MD, NY, NJ, IL, IN, and PA. If you are as committed as we are, you can call me directly at 412-714-8421. We have the plans, skills, training, contacts, staff and equipment to include you.

Screen name:

Oz

Member since:

Mar 28 2016

Active over 1 month ago

Level of commitment:

Touring

Years together:

55

Gigs played:

Over 100

Tend to practice:

1 time per week

Age:

73 years

Influences

There have been many musicians that I have enjoyed. Far fewer that I would call "influences". Musically there is Petra, Fair Warning, White Cross, Guitar Masters, eh 440, We Are Vessel, As We Are, Red Letter Hymnal, Rise Up, Holly Cole, Norah Jones, Mila Drumke, Kat Edmonson, Ron Carter, Eva Cassidy, Richard and Karen Carpenter, Commander Cody, Jimmy Forrest, George Benson, Earl Klug, Wes Montgomery, David Chesky, From the Top, Keith Jarrett, Dave Brubeck, Charlie Haden, Joe Negri, Emily Rimler, Joe Pass, Walt Harper, Tommy Emmanuel, Jennifer Warnes, Leonard Cohen, Eden Atwood, Jane Monheit, Peggy Lee, Custer LaRue, the Brennan sisters, Clannad, Loreena McKennit, Tierney Sutton, Lyn Stanley, Scott Hamilton, Yo Yo Ma and Ira Rosen, to name a few. If you have heard of over half of these you are definitely well rounded musically. I have been blessed to play with, mix for, and/or count as friends, most of this rather eclectic group.

Members Of Band

Soprano-Suzie Carrol, Jaki Barclay
Alto/soprano/songwriter-Lani Cerveris-Cataldi
Tenor/Alto-Connie Watkins
Lead/Blues/Jazz Guitar-???
Drums-Brad Clayton
Bass-Max Antonucci
Keyboards/Songwriter-Frank Novasack
Violin-Suzie Carrol
Sound-Oz Strothman and Mario Cappabianca

EQUIPMENT

We firmly believe now is the time for committed, hard working, top quality musicians and singers to have first rate, touring pro quality sound rather than the typical bar gigging sound gear routinely used by most local bands, groups and organizations.

For a band to succeed on tour you need better than the typical bar band or cafe band PA rig, ours is. All of our equipment is tech rider listed including our backline. Even so, we are always in the process of upgrading. Our standard f.o.h. boxes blend the superior instrument reinforcement capabilities of the QSC KW and KLA series powered cabinets with incredible vocal resolution and reproduction by the powered top cabinets with deep and strong bass and low range reproduction by the subwoofers. Keeping that in mind, every piece of these systems was included for its clarity, overall sonic excellence and systemic compatability with all of the big ticket pieces being tech rider listed on national tech riders. We are not aware of any local or regional touring band, either secular or Christian, regularly using this combined level of quality equipment except at the very highest levels in the industry. Everything transports in road cases with casters. We have been blessed with the following partial inventory:

* 1 Allen & Heath GLD80/Dante. This is an amazingly good sounding, national tech rider listed 48 channel, large venue or studio, digital mixer. This is our primary mixer and is for the exclusive use of our contract bands. It also has the Waves SoundGrid ports with the full Waves Sound Grid Impact Server Combo hardware and plugins software. It provides unmatched quality live sound and studio quality recording options;
* 1 Allen & Heath QuPAC 30. This is a very clean sounding and very compact 16/12 channel, small venue digital mixer listed on most regional tech riders. This is our secondary mixer, but it becomes the primary mixer when portability is the issue because it weighs less than 25% of the GLD. We also use it to expand the total digital, stage input set by 20 using the D-Link to the GLD. That way it is an excellent drums and/or track mixer;
* 2 A&H D-snake/Cat-6 tech rider listed digital snakes (100 and 330 feet in length, respectively) and two digital stage boxes (24 inputs and 12 outputs on an A&H AR2412 digital stage box and 16 inputs and 8 outputs on an A&H AB168 digital stage box) plus one Dante Ethernet card and one Waves card with dual Cat-5 ports;
* 1 Waves Sound Grid Impact Server Combo with an enormous panoply of plug-ins;
* 2 sixty foot, 12 channel analog side snakes for splitting up to 24 channels;
* 1 Apple MacBook Pro 15.4, 512GB + 2 TB for up to 48 channel, multi-track recording;
* 1 Apple iPad Pro 12.9, 256GB for remote control of any of the mixers;
* 1 Tascam SL901 Mk. II CD recorder;
* 4 QSC KW153 tech rider listed, three-way, powered towers for large venue f.o.h., delay, side fill, or center fill. There are no better speakers at their price point for vocal rich music where intelligibility is key;
* 12 QSC KW181 tech rider listed, 18" powered subs for outdoor or large venue f.o.h. or center fill ground stacks;
* 12 QSC KLA12 powered, tech rider listed, compact line array mid/high boxes primarily for medium or large venue f.o.h;
* 4 speaker lifts/towers hand crank, 16 foot high array lifters for flying the KLA array systems;
* 4 QSC Ksub powered 2x12" subwoofers, regional tech rider listed for f.o.h., center fill or side fill ground stacks. These work amazingly well as small to medium venue, indoor or outdoor, f.o.h., or center fill subs with either the QSC KW122s or the QSC K10s on top;
* 8 QSC KW122 powered small to medium venue f.o.h., or large venue center fill or side fill tops when paired with subs or truly awesome tech rider listed stage monitors;
* 4 QSC K10 superb powered vocal monitors listed on most regional tech riders;
* 4 Sennheiser e965 condenser, multi-pattern, national tech rider listed mics for lead vocals. These are very high resolution live or studio handheld mics. These are for the exclusive use of our featured bands;
* 4 Sennheiser MD431 national tech rider listed, condenser, supercardioid mics for vocals. Superb for sopranos, tenors, and altos. These are also for the exclusive use of our featured bands;
* 2 Ear Trumpet Labs Myrtle condenser mics;
* 6 Sennheiser e945 tech rider listed dynamic, cardioid, vocal mics;
* 6 Sennheiser e935 dynamic vocal mics);
* 1 Sennheiser evolution G3 300 tech rider listed wireless headset mic;
* 3 Neumann KLM102 tech rider, bass, kick drum, floor Tom, or guitar amp mics;
* 4 Sennheiser e609 tech rider listed guitar amp mics;
* 2 Shure KSM 137 tech rider listed acoustic instrument mics (these are truly awesome on high quality acoustic guitars, harps, mandolins or horns);
* 2 Earthworks DK25L national tech rider listed three mic sets with two bass modules for kick drums and four overheads. These are also incredibly clean, high resolution instrument mics for harps, Celtic harps, or many more esoteric instruments;
* 1 Audix D7 mic drum mic set;
* 4 Radial PRO1 guitar DI boxes;
* 2 Radial PRO2 keyboard DI boxes;
* 25 assorted DR mic stands with tote bags;
* 9 speaker stands;
* over 100 Mogami Live Gold xlr interconnect/mic cables;
* numerous power cables and conditioners; and,
* 5 dollies plus several cases with casters and carrying/tote cases for the speakers, stands, cables, and mics.

With this PA inventory we can easily handle any size audience from as few as 10 up to 15,000 or more people (depending on the genre) indoors or out and provide exemplary sound quality while doing it. More of the same quality equipment is available from an associated business if needed. All of this equipment is less than two years old.

Our backline amps are a Two Rock Studio Pro 35, a Bogner Shiva 2x12 Combo, and a Marshall DSL40c. For bass we have an Ampeg PF500 2x10 combo or a Glockenklang Blue Rock powering their Duo Art 4x10 Neo system. For keys we use a Yamaha CP40 Stage 88 key piano and several others. Our drums are a real nice Yamaha Maple Custom Absolute Nouveau five drum kit with a full five piece Sabian XS20 cymbal set. We also have several excellent guitars available. You can use our backline inventory or your own. This is all set up in our rehearsal space.

To haul all of this around we have a Stealth 6x14 Titan enclosed trailer with a rear ramp plus side door and 14 ratchet straps. It has 6.5 feet of internal headroom so it is very easy to load and unload. This is towed by a Ford Crew Cab F-450 turbodiesel. There is ample room inside both for additional system equipment or multiple keyboards, guitars, amps, and/or a larger drum kit. As well as being very roomy and comfortable seating for four. We also have two very nice minivan people movers and SUVs.

You will be expected to provide your own instruments other than what was listed here. You will need reliable transportation to rehearsals. Rehearsals are in Charleroi in a secure, heated and cooled, large room. Gigs are a group effort so we will take whatever mix of vehicles it takes.

This is a serious effort. We are doing three live streaming concerts with bands like Cool Hip Priest, Fair Warning, and White Cross that will be streamed to much of the world. More is being finalized now.