James Butera has chosen Clair Global and multiple Clair brands for audio rental and support many times during his career as both a FOH Engineer and Production Manager, and in his most recent outing with pop star Halsey, he's working with the group once again.
With the never-ending demand for great touring crews in this industry, James shares his own route to the top; he grew up in Dallas, Texas, and attended what he calls a 'non-traditional' chapel service every Friday at his school. Little did he know, a chance to carry some microphones one lunchtime would set him on a career path for life…
He begins: "In our school chapel, there were FOH, monitor, lighting and video positions. I grew up drumming and being on stage, but one day, one of the audio mixers was running late from lunch and said: 'Everything is on, can you go and grab the mics and the IEM packs?' I don't know what it was exactly, but seeing the console set up back there was very intriguing to me.
"After that, I started helping with audio at school, then at my youth group, and at my local church on Sundays. That turned into mixing friends' bands around town and asking local venues how to get into touring. They all gave the same advice: speak to some audio vendors.
"One of the vendors I grew up working with was Onstage Systems which was purchased by LD Systems, and then LD Systems was purchased by Clair Global, so it's kind of come full circle now!" he muses.
James explains that the church market is a great way to learn about live audio: "It's a very forgiving environment. I always encourage people to not only get plugged in with a local vendor, but if there's a large church that has good gear, get your foot in the door."
By junior year in high school, James was getting detentions while dreaming about a career in live sound: "I was drawing stage plots for Youth Summer Camp and reading Guitar Center catalogs, making input lists for church when I shouldn't have been," he laughs.
"Large scale audio and touring are something I've always wanted to do, but I had to pick up other skill sets along the way to get where I am now. The audio vendor I got in with worked with Mary J. Blige, so I bypassed the sprinter van and went straight to bigger shows on my first tour, but my next tour was in a sprinter van. I was tour manager, production manager, mixing monitors and FOH all in one console, plus I was booking the flights and hotels!" he adds.
"I do appreciate all the stepping stones that I've had throughout the early days. I think it's crucial. Looking back now, every gig, every show, every tour that I've done throughout my life has been so critical to forming me as an engineer, and as a production manager.
Being able to lead people well in the industry is easier if you've worked in and understand other positions.
"Try to have a global view and become well rounded and well educated. It not only makes you a more valuable team member, but it sets you up for so many roles in audio and live entertainment. Your dream job might not be pushing faders; from wireless coordination and comms to PA deployment and systems engineers, to data even - so much of what we do now is network driven, and there's a huge network component to getting our systems talking before the show even leaves the building.
"If you do want to mix, give it your all. You never know who is in the background watching you. I've gotten so many gigs because somebody happened to be there and heard me mix!"
James relishes creating live mixes for multi-award-winning singer Halsey, who has just toured the US before her Euro festival appearances next month. Over the last few years of his career development, he's also seen first-hand the evolution of Clair Global's worldwide network.
He continues: "I'm constantly prepping out of the UK Hub (home to Britannia Row Productions, Skan PA Hire, Eighth Day Sound, and Plus 4 Audio), and I've done many rehearsals at BBM Clair in Germany. Stuart Wright, who helped to establish the Clair KSA location, has saved me when I've had a last-minute show booked in Riyadh, and I've even used the JPJ Audio team in Australia. I've been fortunate to work with most of the Clair offices in both the States and abroad - their support around the world has been huge for me.
"The input, experience and culture from different offices has really formed this new and amazing thing. It's a great feeling to work with the company, whether I'm a production manager or an engineer on a tour; I know that the gig's going to happen, the gear is going to be correct, and the crew is going to be amazing. There's also this sense of community within Clair, which is hard to describe, especially when you go to Lititz...there's an energy, an ingenuity there."
James' pre-tour visits to Lititz involved strategizing for his rig, which included brand-new Cohesion products on their very first tour outing: "Watching the Cohesion engineering and the Clair operations teams make sure we felt taken care of was amazing. It's not like we're a giant stadium tour, but they treated us like we were. Even when I was doing small theaters, we received the same level of attention from Clair; to have a company dedicate time and effort to every size of act will always make the audio team feel good."
Halsey's next live shows will be at Festival Park Yenikapı in Istanbul, Turkey and Zurich Openair, Switzerland.
