Recording and Production in the News

Producer Joshua Blair adds an Orpheus to his recording set-up

Cambridge, UK: The flexibility and portability of Prism Sound's Orpheus Computer FireWire Interface has proved popular with producer/engineer Joshua Blair, who recently acquired a unit for his project studio in London.

Josh Blair and Mark Ronson at Sphere Studios

"I can now have the great sound of Prism Sound converters on all my projects," he says. "This converter allows me to connect to other studios rigs very quickly and without any problems when I'm away from home, while also giving me consistent audio quality at home or on the road."

Josh works from his own London-based studio, but he also works in other studios depending on the project.

"I have recently been working in Duran Duran's private studio in London as I was engineering their album "All You Need is Now". We used Prism Sound ADA-8XR converters on a number of overdubs on the album and since then I've used the Orpheus on some B-Sides. I am also using it on a new album for Elle James, which I'm producing and engineering."

Josh is very much in demand - apart from his work with Duran Duran and Ellie James, he has also recently engineered parts of the Mark Ronson album "Record Collection", along with other Mark Ronson singles and remixes. Other artists he has worked with include Michael Jackson (posthumously), Depeche Mode, Delta Goodrem and Beyoncé to name a few.

"When I'm recording I work mostly 'in-the-box' as it's faster for me and enables me to go to any studio and open any project I'm currently working on," he explains. "I choose my outboard gear very carefully for character or cleanliness as I like to colour the sound before it gets into the box to give it some character and make it come to life."

Josh says that his new Prism Sound Orpheus has added functionality as well as flexibility to his recording set up. Standard features such as 8 analog I/O, 10 digital I/O, 4 microphone preamps and a separate headphone bus have been particularly well received.

He says: "I love the audio quality of Prism Sound converters and the Orpheus has all the functions and flexibility I need for my home studio and 'on the road'. I like the fact that I can use it as a stand-alone converter without the FireWire being connected to the computer using the ADAT optical in/out's, or as a fully functioning converter with mic pres etc. I also like the assignable attenuator because I do a lot of 5.1 film work as well and it's handy to have a volume knob built into the box should you need it."

Integrating Orpheus into his existing studio set-up proved to be equally pain-free.

"I plugged it in and it worked first time without any problems," Josh says.

He adds that the Prism Sound team were very helpful after he bought the unit with regards to custom upgrades, information and user support.

"I am very happy with the results I am achieving with Orpheus - it is everything I expect from a Prism Sound unit and I really like having Prism Sound audio quality on all my projects."