Dan Clayton has more than twenty-five years of professional experience in the fields of audio, theatre, music and architectural acoustics. Since 1992 he has operated his own consulting practice, providing sound system design and engineering services, acoustics consulting, project management and supervision, and pipe organ acoustics consulting. Dan is personally involved with each project from start to finish, resulting in the highest standards of consulting advice, client support and overall project quality. His company, Clayton Acoustics Group, is a growing force in the elite area of speciality worship space acoustics.

Mr. Clayton’s design philosophy and practice are acoustics-centered and engineering-based, adhering to the theory that “acoustics is architecture.” Natural room acoustics and sound systems must fully be part of the architectural design, and selection of materials and equipment must serve this goal exclusively. The key to a successful project is identifying and implementing simple, flexible and elegant solutions which meet the users’ needs.

As Senior Consultant for Artec Consultants Inc., from 1988 to 1992, Mr. Clayton specialized in sound and communication system design, and pipe organ consulting, primarily for performing arts facilities. Projects included concert and recital halls, theatres, multi-purpose theatres/halls and college music facilities.

From 1981 to 1988, Dan Clayton was an engineer and project manager for Sound Associates Inc, a Broadway and touring show rental company in New York City. He established a separate division to provide design, engineering and installation of permanent sound systems for performing arts, religious and other facilities.

As a member of the local organizing committee and the 75th Anniversary committee for the May 2004 meeting of the Acoustical Society of America in New York City, Mr. Clayton produced a “pipe organ walking tour” and organ concert at three major Manhattan churches. Dan organized and chaired a technical session on “Acoustics of Organ Performance Spaces” at the October 1998 meeting of the Acoustical Society of America, held in Norfolk, VA. 18 invited and contributed papers were presented by acoustics consultants, organ builders and researchers in a daylong session, where the highly subjective matter of “ideal” acoustics for pipe organs was discussed and debated from a wide range of viewpoints and experience. Dan co-chaired a subsequent technical session on “Musical Acoustics and Architectural Acoustics” at the ASA’s meeting in November 1999.

He previously presented an invited paper for a special session on Speech Intelligibility at the June 1997 ASA meeting, in State College, PA, highlighting his innovative speech-reinforcement sound system design for St. James’s Episcopal Church in Richmond.

Dan Clayton is a member of the Acoustical Society of America, Audio Engineering Society, National Council of Acoustical Consultants and Syn-Aud-Con. He has long held an interest in the musical and technical aspects of pipe organ building, served a year’s apprenticeship in the late 1970s with one of America’s leading mechanical-action pipe organ builders, and is a member of the Organ Historical Society, American Institute of Organbuilders and American Guild of Organists. Dan sang with the St. Michael’s Episcopal Church (NYC) Camerata from 1994 to 1997, and the Dalton Alumni Chorale in 2003.