Clear-Com

Clear-Com
Company typePrivate
IndustryAudio electronics, intercom
Founded1968; 56 years ago (1968), in San Francisco, California
FounderCharlie Butten, Bob Cohen
Headquarters
Carlsbad, California
,
United States
OwnerHME
Websitehttps://www.clearcom.com/

Clear-Com is a manufacturer of electronic intercom products, widely used to enable stage management and crew communications in theatre, filmmaking, video and television production, concerts, professional sports competitions, special events and audiovisual presentations. Providing the first portable party-line intercom system to feature simple XLR cable connections, Clear-Com soon became an accepted industry standard.[1][2] The National Academy of Television Arts & Sciences honored the company with a Technology and Engineering Emmy Award in 2010.[3]

Clear-Com was founded in San Francisco, California, on April 18, 1968, by audio engineer Charlie Butten and his business partner Bob Cohen, a sound company owner who had recently been part of Family Dog Productions organizing dance concerts at the Avalon Ballroom. The first Clear-Com product was the RS-100 intercom station, a portable unit connected using standard XLR-terminated microphone cables.[4] The connection scheme was based on twisted-pair telephone lines, with full duplex conversations carried on the inner two wires of the microphone cable.[5] Butten added a momentary flashing signal light linked to the third conductor, the cable shield.[6] The arrangement of beltpacks and headsets powered by a 30-volt DC base station allowed technical crew members to hear each other clearly over the loud sound systems of bands such as the Grateful Dead and Jefferson Airplane.[4]

The product line of Clear-Com has expanded beyond party-line wired units to include multi-channel intercoms and wireless technology. Clear-Com patented a multi-channel wired digital intercom system in 2009, used in the HelixNet product line. The company's FreeSpeak wireless intercom was nominated in 2020 for a TEC Award.[7]

Clear-Com was purchased in 2010 by Southern California electronics manufacturer HME, known for supplying wireless headsets for drive-through fast-food restaurant operations.[8] Company headquarters were moved from Poway to Carlsbad, California, in 2018.

  1. ^ Broadcasting Cablecasting Yearbook. Broadcasting Publications. 1983. p. 29.
  2. ^ Matthews, Doug (2008). Special Event Production: The Process. Routledge. p. 167. ISBN 9780750682435.
  3. ^ "Clear-Com Wins Big with Two Tech Emmys". Clear-Com. November 2010. Retrieved December 16, 2022.
  4. ^ a b Grotticelli, Michael (March 21, 2018). "Clear-Com Celebrates 50 Years Of Keeping Crews Connected". The Broadcast Bridge. Retrieved December 16, 2022.
  5. ^ Baxter, Dennis (2014). A Practical Guide to Television Sound Engineering. CRC Press. p. 120. ISBN 9781136125188.
  6. ^ EPJ Tozer, ed. (2012). Broadcast Engineer's Reference Book. CRC Press. p. 531. ISBN 9781136024184.
  7. ^ "Nominees for the 36th TEC Awards Announced". TEC Awards. September 16, 2020. Retrieved December 16, 2022.
  8. ^ "HME Acquires Clear-Com Communication Systems". Clear-Com. April 2, 2010. Retrieved December 16, 2022.