Clair Global

Last updated
Clair Global
FormerlyClair Brothers Audio Enterprises
Company type Private
Industry Entertainment, Construction, Professional Audio
Founded1966;58 years ago (1966) in Lititz, Pennsylvania, United States
Founders
Headquarters
Lititz, Pennsylvania
,
United States
Number of locations
22 locations (2024)
Area served
Worldwide
Key people
  • Troy Clair (president and CEO)
BrandsATK Audiotek, AudioRent Clair, BBM Clair, Britannia Row Productions, Eighth Day Sound, JPJ Audio, Pro Media Audio Video, SKAN, Sound Image, Surfhire, TDA Clair
Divisions
  • Rental
  • Integration
  • Product
Website clairglobal.com

Clair Global, or simply Clair, is a professional sound reinforcement and live touring production support company. It was founded by brothers Roy and Gene Clair, who went into business in 1966 after they were asked to bring their sound system on tour with Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons. It is believed they were the first professional sound company to tour with a band. The company formally incorporated in 1970 as Clair Bros. Audio Enterprises, Inc.

Contents

History

1960s and 1970s

Brothers Roy and Gene Clair grew up in Lititz, Pennsylvania, where their parents owned a grocery store. Their father bought them a small public address system in 1955 which they started to rent out to bands, schools, and churches. It consisted of a horn loudspeaker, a Stromberg-Carlson integrated preamplifier, a 35-watt power amp, and a microphone. Money they earned went to buying more equipment. Through high school, college and after they continued to rent it out and add to it. [1]

Their first business was a loudspeaker reconing business, Clair Reconing, which fixed loudspeakers. This is where they first started learning about loudspeaker design and how important it is to efficiency. [1]

In the early 1960s Gene began working as a technician for Franklin & Marshall College in nearby Lancaster, Pennsylvania, which gave them opportunities to rent out their sound system. Their sound system consisted of two columns with six eight-inch speakers each, a Bogen amplifier and four Shure 55s microphones and rented for $95 a night.

Their big break came in 1966. They provided sound to Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons at a local show at Franklin & Marshall College. [2] Their road crew was impressed by the Clair Brothers sound system. Roy asked to be invited into their dressing room, where he talked about why the system sounded so good. The next day the band had a show in Allentown, Pennsylvania, which sounded terrible. They contacted the Clair brothers through a local DJ and asked them to come down with their system. Just before these two concerts they had done a show with Herb Alpert, who had not allowed them to use his superior sound system, and they were stuck with the poor house sound system. This made them realize the benefit of traveling with their own sound system. Once again impressed with the Clair brothers sound system, the tour manager asked them to join them on the road for the rest of the tour, bringing their sound system, for $90 per show. [3] It is believed they were the first professional sound company to tour with a band. [4]

In 1967, Clair Brothers used Altec Lansing A7-500 Voice of the Theater speakers on the Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons tour. [5]

In 1968, the Clair Brothers main front of house system consisted of stacks of custom designed dual 15 inch bass horns loaded with Altec drivers. These were paired with passive crossovers and Altec 288-C high frequency drivers attached to Altec multi-cell horns. These were powered by the new Crown DC300 direct coupled amplifiers. The new dual 15 inch bass horn design was based on the Altec A7 horn design. They were built in-house. [5]

In 1970, the Clair Brothers officially incorporate as Clair Bros. Audio Enterprises, Inc. and switched to JBL speaker components in their speaker designs.

1974 Clair S4 All-In-One full range speaker

In 1974 Clair Brothers introduced their S4 all-in-one PA speaker. A radical departure from the different sized modular boxes generally used in large concert PA systems of the time. The S4 was a single box full range 4-way speaker weighing 425 lbs with integrated rigging hardware for suspending from the roof or superstructure of an auditorium or arena. [6] The S4 measured 45 inches by 45 inches which allowed two cabinets to sit side by side in a semi-trailer truck. The S4 design was a system that included the S4 speakers, amplifier racks, flying hardware and cabling as an integrated package.

The original S4 design was a 4-way system with two JBL K150 18 inch bass speakers, four JBL K110 10 inch midrange speakers, two JBL 2440 2 inch troat high frequency drivers coupled to JBL 2385 12 inch elliptical exponential horns (without the slant-plate acoustic lenses) and two JBL 2405 ultra-high frequency "slot" drivers. [7] The drivers were vertically aligned so they would acoustically couple with the cabinets above and below them. The driver selection evolved over time generally keeping with the all JBL design.

The 4-way design used a 3-way active cross over with 200 Hz and 1,200 Hz crossover points initially powered by Phase Linear 700 amplifiers. A passive 7 kHz high frequency crossover between the JBL 2440 and JBL 2405 drivers was installed in the cabinet. [8] Speaker cabinets were connected to the amplifier racks using custom large gauge multi pair cables with Cannon multi-pin connectors.

The S-4 was used in large two dimension arrays. Typically six to ten or more columns of six or nine speakers closely arrayed. [9]

1980s through present

In 1980, Clair Global established its first location outside the United States, with Clair Japan in Yokohama. At the end of the decade, Clair Global officially launched a spin-off to install permanent sound, video, and lighting systems in concert venues, churches, stadiums, theaters, cruise ships, and schools. This new business eventually grew large enough that in 2009 it moved out of the Lititz location to a new location in nearby Manheim. [10] That business is now separate and known as Clair Companies.

In 1990, Clair acquired MD Systems of Nashville and created a partnership with JANDS in Australia. Also that year, Clair opened a location in Cambridge, England. Four years later it moved the operation to Switzerland to combine with Audio Rent in Basel, operating there as AudioRent Clair. In 1995, Gene Clair sold his end of the business to his son Troy Clair, who is now president and CEO.

In October 2000, Clair bought Showco, its direct competitor, and named the combined company ClairShowCo. [11] With this move, the company became one of the world's largest sound reinforcement equipment providers, and it continued to grow over the course of the decade, particularly with acquisitions of DB Sound of Chicago and ConcertSound of the UK in 2008. [12] In 2008, renamed as Clair Global. Clair Global added a broadcast services division in August 2010, in part through the acquisition of Wireless First, Inc. and GTO Live, Inc. With that acquisition came Kevin Sanford, the founder of both companies. [13] [14]

In December 2013, co-founder Gene Clair died of an illness at age 73. [2]

In April 2022, Black Box Music in Berlin was acquired by AudioRent Clair, which now operates as BBM Clair. [15] Clair thus has a branch in the EU again after Brexit.

Innovations

Clair designed and built the first stage monitor, in 1970, and the first hanging sound system for indoor arenas, in 1972. [16] Both are now standard parts of live events. Clair, along with JANDS co-founder Bruce Jackson, developed and introduced its own 32-channel folding audio console with parametric EQ, in 1977, followed by CTS™ processing and the Clair/TC remote controlled EQ system in 1980.

In 2014, along with partner Tait Towers, Clair opened the 30,000 square-foot Rock Lititz, the largest dedicated rehearsal space in the world. [3] [17]

Rock Lititz Campus

Clair is a primary developer of Rock Lititz, a campus shared with other companies in the live event industry.

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Subwoofer</span> Loudspeaker for low-pitched audio frequencies

A subwoofer is a loudspeaker designed to reproduce low-pitched audio frequencies, known as bass and sub-bass, that are lower in frequency than those which can be (optimally) generated by a woofer. The typical frequency range that is covered by a subwoofer is about 20–200 Hz for consumer products, below 100 Hz for professional live sound, and below 80 Hz in THX-certified systems. Thus, one or more subwoofers are important for high-quality sound reproduction as they are responsible for the lowest two to three octaves of the ten octaves that are audible. This very low-frequency (VLF) range reproduces the natural fundamental tones of the bass drum, electric bass, double bass, grand piano, contrabassoon, tuba, in addition to thunder, gunshots, explosions, etc.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Loudspeaker</span> Converts an electrical audio signal into a corresponding sound

A loudspeaker is a combination of one or more speaker drivers, an enclosure, and electrical connections. The speaker driver is an electroacoustic transducer that converts an electrical audio signal into a corresponding sound.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Public address system</span> Electronic system for amplifying sound

A public address system is an electronic system comprising microphones, amplifiers, loudspeakers, and related equipment. It increases the apparent volume (loudness) of a human voice, musical instrument, or other acoustic sound source or recorded sound or music. PA systems are used in any public venue that requires that an announcer, performer, etc. be sufficiently audible at a distance or over a large area. Typical applications include sports stadiums, public transportation vehicles and facilities, and live or recorded music venues and events. A PA system may include multiple microphones or other sound sources, a mixing console to combine and modify multiple sources, and multiple amplifiers and loudspeakers for louder volume or wider distribution.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sound reinforcement system</span> Amplified sound system for public events

A sound reinforcement system is the combination of microphones, signal processors, amplifiers, and loudspeakers in enclosures all controlled by a mixing console that makes live or pre-recorded sounds louder and may also distribute those sounds to a larger or more distant audience. In many situations, a sound reinforcement system is also used to enhance or alter the sound of the sources on the stage, typically by using electronic effects, such as reverb, as opposed to simply amplifying the sources unaltered.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Horn loudspeaker</span> Loudspeaker using an acoustic horn

A horn loudspeaker is a loudspeaker or loudspeaker element which uses an acoustic horn to increase the overall efficiency of the driving element(s). A common form (right) consists of a compression driver which produces sound waves with a small metal diaphragm vibrated by an electromagnet, attached to a horn, a flaring duct to conduct the sound waves to the open air. Another type is a woofer driver mounted in a loudspeaker enclosure which is divided by internal partitions to form a zigzag flaring duct which functions as a horn; this type is called a folded horn speaker. The horn serves to improve the coupling efficiency between the speaker driver and the air. The horn can be thought of as an "acoustic transformer" that provides impedance matching between the relatively dense diaphragm material and the less-dense air. The result is greater acoustic output power from a given driver.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">JBL</span> American audio hardware manufacturer

JBL is an American audio equipment manufacturer headquartered in Los Angeles, California, United States. JBL serves the home and professional market. The professional market includes studios, installed/tour/portable sound, music production, DJ, and cinema markets. The home market includes high-end home amplification/speakers/headphones as well as high-end car audio. JBL is owned by Harman International, itself a subsidiary of Samsung Electronics.

Altec Lansing, Inc. is an American audio electronics company founded in 1927. Their primary products are loudspeakers and associated audio electronics for professional, home, automotive and multimedia applications.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Powered speakers</span> Loudspeaker that have built-in amplifiers

Powered speakers, also known as self-powered speakers and active speakers, are loudspeakers that have built-in amplifiers. Powered speakers are used in a range of settings, including in sound reinforcement systems, both for the main speakers facing the audience and the monitor speakers facing the performers; by DJs performing at dance events and raves; in private homes as part of hi-fi or home cinema audio systems and as computer speakers. They can be connected directly to a mixing console or other low-level audio signal source without the need for an external amplifier. Some active speakers designed for sound reinforcement system use have an onboard mixing console and microphone preamplifier, which enables microphones to be connected directly to the speaker.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Loudspeaker enclosure</span> Acoustical component

A loudspeaker enclosure or loudspeaker cabinet is an enclosure in which speaker drivers and associated electronic hardware, such as crossover circuits and, in some cases, power amplifiers, are mounted. Enclosures may range in design from simple, homemade DIY rectangular particleboard boxes to very complex, expensive computer-designed hi-fi cabinets that incorporate composite materials, internal baffles, horns, bass reflex ports and acoustic insulation. Loudspeaker enclosures range in size from small "bookshelf" speaker cabinets with 4-inch (10 cm) woofers and small tweeters designed for listening to music with a hi-fi system in a private home to huge, heavy subwoofer enclosures with multiple 18-inch (46 cm) or even 21-inch (53 cm) speakers in huge enclosures which are designed for use in stadium concert sound reinforcement systems for rock music concerts.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Studio monitor</span> Speaker designed to reproduce sound accurately

Studio monitors are loudspeakers in speaker enclosures specifically designed for professional audio production applications, such as recording studios, filmmaking, television studios, radio studios and project or home studios, where accurate audio reproduction is crucial. Among audio engineers, the term monitor implies that the speaker is designed to produce relatively flat (linear) phase and frequency responses. In other words, it exhibits minimal emphasis or de-emphasis of particular frequencies, the loudspeaker gives an accurate reproduction of the tonal qualities of the source audio, and there will be no relative phase shift of particular frequencies—meaning no distortion in sound-stage perspective for stereo recordings. Beyond stereo sound-stage requirements, a linear phase response helps impulse response remain true to source without encountering "smearing". An unqualified reference to a monitor often refers to a near-field design. This is a speaker small enough to sit on a stand or desk in proximity to the listener, so that most of the sound that the listener hears is coming directly from the speaker, rather than reflecting off walls and ceilings. Monitor speakers may include more than one type of driver or, for monitoring low-frequency sounds, such as bass drum, additional subwoofer cabinets may be used.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Guitar speaker</span>

A guitar speaker is a loudspeaker – specifically the driver (transducer) part – designed for use in a combination guitar amplifier of an electric guitar, or for use in a guitar speaker cabinet. Typically these drivers produce only the frequency range relevant to electric guitars, which is similar to a regular woofer type driver, which is approximately 75 Hz — 5 kHz, or for electric bass speakers, down to 41 Hz  for regular four-string basses or down to about 30 Hz for five-string instruments.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">John Kenneth Hilliard</span> American engineer

John Kenneth Hilliard was an American acoustical and electrical engineer who pioneered a number of important loudspeaker concepts and designs. He helped develop the practical use of recording sound for film and won an Academy Award in 1935. He designed movie theater sound systems, and he worked on radar as well as submarine detection equipment during World War II. Hilliard collaborated with James B. "Jim" Lansing in creating the long-lived Altec Voice of the Theatre speaker system. Hilliard researched high-intensity acoustics, vibration, miniaturization and long-line communications for NASA and the Air Force. Near the end of his career, he standardized noise-control criteria for home construction in California, a pattern since applied to new homes throughout the U.S.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">UREI</span> American audio equipment manufacturer

United Recording Electronics Industries (UREI) was a manufacturer of recording, mixing and audio signal processing hardware for the professional recording studio, live sound and broadcasting fields.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Live event support</span> All activities required for live performances

Live event support includes staging, scenery, mechanicals, sound, lighting, video, special effects, transport, packaging, communications, costume and makeup for live performance events including theater, music, dance, and opera. They all share the same goal: to convince live audience members that there is no better place that they could be at the moment. This is achieved through establishing a bond between performer and audience. Live performance events tend to use visual scenery, lighting, costume amplification and a shorter history of visual projection and sound amplification reinforcement.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Yorkville Sound</span> Canadian audio equipment manufacturer

Yorkville Sound is a Canadian manufacturer of audio amplifiers, loudspeakers and related professional sound reinforcement equipment. Based in Pickering, Ontario, Canada, the firm has a global presence as an importer and exporter of audio electronic products.

A coaxial loudspeaker is a loudspeaker system in which the individual driver units radiate sound from the same point or axis. Two general types exist: one is a compact design using two or three speaker drivers, usually in car audio, and the other is a two-way high-power design for professional audio, also known as single-source or dual-concentric loudspeakers. The design is favored for its compactness and behavior as an audio point source.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bruce Jackson (audio engineer)</span> Australian audio engineer

Bruce Robert Jackson was an Australian audio engineer who co-founded JANDS, an Australian audio, lighting and staging company. He joined American touring audio engineer Roy Clair and mixed concert stage monitors for Elvis Presley in the 1970s. With Clair Brothers, a concert sound company, Jackson designed audio electronics including a custom mixing console. Beginning in 1978, Jackson toured as Bruce Springsteen's band engineer for a decade, using Clair Brothers sound systems. A business interest in Fairlight CMI in Sydney introduced Jackson to digital audio, and he subsequently founded the digital audio company Apogee Electronics in Santa Monica, California, where he lived at the time. After selling his share of Apogee, Jackson co-founded with Roy and Gene Clair a joint venture which produced the Clair iO, a loudspeaker management system for control of complex concert sound systems. Jackson turned the venture commercial with the help of Dave McGrath's Lake Technology. Dolby Laboratories bought the technology and formed Dolby Lake with Jackson as vice president, then in 2009 Lab.gruppen acquired the brand. Jackson was honoured with the Parnelli Innovator Award in 2005 for his inventive loudspeaker controller.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Altec Lansing Duplex</span> Line of loudspeakers

DUPLEX was the trade name given by Altec Lansing to its line of coaxial loudspeakers, beginning with the first model 601 in 1943. However, the name was most commonly associated with the subsequent model 604 which was a seminal loudspeaker that became a milestone in loudspeaker development. Well over a dozen different models carried the Duplex name over a near 50-year period. The vast majority consisted of a high frequency (HF) compression driver mounted to the back of a large diameter paper cone low frequency (LF) driver. However, there were also a few models with small diameter LF cones and direct radiator tweeters.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">JBL Paragon</span> One-piece stereo loudspeaker

The JBL D44000 Paragon is a one-piece stereo loudspeaker created by JBL that was introduced in 1957 and discontinued in 1983; its production run was the longest of any JBL speaker. At its launch, the Paragon was the most expensive domestic loudspeaker on the market.

Gene Clair was an American sound engineer who, along with his brother Roy Clair, founded Clair Brothers Sound in 1966. The company was among the first to provide sound reinforcement equipment and personnel that toured with music performers. Gene and his company were involved with many important innovations in sound reinforcement. His company grew to be among the largest sound companies in the world.

References

  1. 1 2 "Roy & Gene Clair: The Sound of Sibling Success". FOH Online. September 18, 2008. Retrieved January 12, 2016.
  2. 1 2 "Walter Eugene Clair, 1940-2013". Mix. 38 (1): 10. January 2014.
  3. 1 2 Jurgensen, John (August 7, 2014). "Rock 'n' Roll's Company Town". Wall Street Journal, The. Retrieved January 12, 2016.
  4. ↑ Strauss, Robert (January 27, 2010). "An Unlikely Haven for Rock 'n' Roll Entrepreneurs". New York Times, The. Retrieved January 12, 2016.
  5. 1 2 Clair Brochure: Over 40 Years Of Audio Excellence
  6. ↑ CLAIR S4 Series II PA Cabinet
  7. ↑ Clair Brothers S4
  8. ↑ Clair Bros S-4
  9. ↑ US Festival Figure 3
  10. ↑ Mekeel, Tim (September 5, 2014). "Clair Brothers rebrands to separate installation and audio speaker businesses". LancasterOnline. Lancaster New Era (PA). Retrieved 12 January 2016.
  11. ↑ Young, Clive (March 17, 2011). "ClairShowco Rebranded As Clair". Pro Sound News . Archived from the original on September 9, 2015. Retrieved January 12, 2016.
  12. ↑ Greenblat, Eli (February 15, 2001). "Lake buys into US sound firm". The Age: 4.
  13. ↑ "Clair Global Cf 1090 Fractal Antenna". Mix. 36 (1): 66. January 2012.
  14. ↑ "Clair Broadens Reach". Mix. 34 (10): 15. October 2010.
  15. ↑ "Medienmitteilung: «Der nächste Schritt» – AudioRent Clair AG".
  16. ↑ Negley, Erin (January 14, 2014). "Rock Lititz starts push to make Lititz area an entertainment technology hub". Reading Eagle. Retrieved January 12, 2016.
  17. ↑ I was a partner with Bruce in the first several sales of Fairlight in the States
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.