Recording and Production in the News

US Producer Ken "Duro" Ifill Uses Prism Sound's Orpheus To Create GRAMMY® Winning Records

Cambridge, UK: Internationally acclaimed six-time GRAMMY® award-winning producer and master mixer, Ken "Duro" Ifill, one of the three founders of US label Desert Storm Records, has invested in a Prism Sound Orpheus FireWire computer interface for his project studio in New Jersey.

Producer Ken "Duro" Ifill

"I discovered Prism Sound at Circle House Studios in Miami and when I decided to build a project studio, there was no doubt I would get an Orpheus," he says. "The sound is superior to any other converter that I had heard. Versus similarly configured rivals, it's like comparing a Bentley to a Ford Pinto."

Desert Storm Records was established in 1997 by Duro, Skane Dollar and DJ Clue?, a famous hip hop DJ who is a regular on air personality at New York's Power 105.1. The label, which was formerly distributed through Elektra Records and Atlantic Records, is currently distributed through Def Jam.

Duro's project studio incorporates a variety of high-end equipment including a Euphonics Artist Series Control Surface, Dangerous Monitor S and Genelec 1031A monitors. Duro is currently using the facility to mix projects with artists such as Desert Storm Records signing Fabolous, Kanye West's artist Big Sean, Pharrell Williams, Jennifer Hudson, and Jay Sean.

"The Prism Sound Orpheus has been a fantastic addition to my studio," Duro explains. "The amount of inputs and outputs it offers resolves all the issues I was having with flexibility when it came to integrating analog gear into my mixes. The level of detail that it reproduces in its conversions is incomparable and it works seamlessly. The audio that comes out of it is incredible. It makes my records sound huge."

Since installing Orpheus, Duro has used the interface on a number of projects including Empire State of Mind by Alicia Keys and Jay-Z, which recently won two GRAMMYs.