Clair Global, or simply Clair, is a professional sound reinforcement and live touring production support company. The company is a primary developer of Rock Lititz, a campus shared with other companies in the live event industry.
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. 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. 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. 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 daythe 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. It is believed they were the first professional sound company to tour with a band. In 1970 they officially incorporated as Clair Bros. Audio Enterprises, Inc.
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. 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. With this move, the company became one 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. 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. In December 2013, co-founder Gene Clair died of an illness at age 73.
Innovations
Clair designed and built the first stage monitor, in 1970, and the first hanging sound system for indoor arenas, in 1972. 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 52,000 square-foot Rock Lititz, the largest dedicated rehearsal space in the world.
