{"id":1751,"date":"2018-04-27T13:58:01","date_gmt":"2018-04-27T13:58:01","guid":{"rendered":""},"modified":"2021-08-03T16:35:38","modified_gmt":"2021-08-03T16:35:38","slug":"from-plants-to-campfire-audio-the-story-of-ken-ball","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ourstories.shinola.com\/our-stories\/from-plants-to-campfire-audio-the-story-of-ken-ball\/","title":{"rendered":"From plants to Campfire Audio: the story of Ken Ball"},"content":{"rendered":"

He was running a laboratory as a plant pathologist for the United States Department of Agriculture when he decided it was time for a change.<\/p>\n

The natural career move\u2014of course\u2014was jumping into the audio industry.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe government job was kind of boring and I was just on autopilot. It wasn\u2019t really where I wanted to be, making things was my whole passion,\u201d said Ken.<\/p>\n

In his life, Ken said there were two things that he respected the most: music and art. While audio may have seemed like an unusual career to pursue with his background, it made sense for his world.<\/p>\n

“You have a very creative side that\u2019s artistic and you want to create something, yet you have a sort of scientific side. Those two combinations have been quite helpful,” he said.<\/p>\n

More than a decade ago Ken started working out of his basement, building some of the finest portable cables in the world. He said he knew right away he was on to something.<\/p>\n

“I was doing things \u2013the product wasn’t there. Back then it was a big deal, it just kind of took off,” said Ken.<\/p>\n

He founded Audio Line Out and later Campfire Audio<\/a>, a name inspired by the feeling of being outdoors and camping, another one of Ken\u2019s passions.<\/p>\n

Remarkably, the man with what he calls an \u201cunconventional\u201d path to audio is all self-taught when it comes to the engineering. He said he considers it a big advantage.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t have any boundaries and I\u2019m always trying things not off the shelf, that normal electrical engineers wouldn\u2019t think to do,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

The biologist turned audio maven has built quite the name for himself with thoughtful products that sound just as good as they look, operating out of Portland, Oregon.<\/p>\n

\u201cCompanies will make something that sounds good, but looks or feels…poorly and that\u2014<\/span>to me\u2014<\/span>affects you mentally and it also affects the sound in a way, psychocoustically,” he said.<\/p>\n

Quality is important to Ken and it’s one of the reasons he enjoyed partnering with Shinola on the newest Canfield Pro In-Ear Monitors.<\/a><\/p>\n

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“I like what they were doing with the turntable and their watches and just the whole vibe of what Shinola is doing is really cool, the craftiness of all of the other products that they make and represent. It’s a cool ecosystem,” said Ken.<\/p>\n

The \u202fCanfield\u202f Pro \u202fIn-Ear Monitors were designed to have all \u202fthe \u202fqualities professional\u202f musicians\u202f need with \u202fthe addition of\u202f an inline microphone, volume control\u202fand multifunctional button\u202f for\u202f everyday use.\u202f Each monitor features two balanced armature receivers: a sub woofer and a mid-high range tweeter.<\/p>\n

“We pride ourselves on supporting US manufacturing and so does Shinola, so we share that in common. It’s a lot more expensive, but we feel great about it. We are fighting hard to make it work and make a good product that people will really enjoy,” he added.<\/p>\n

When it comes to new products and deciding the approach, Ken said he harnesses that early desire to build things that aren\u2019t on the market yet.<\/p>\n

“That whole mindset is true today, everything we make here is stuff that we or I want personally and it\u2019s so funny because the basic structure is sort of the same,” he said.<\/p>\n

Despite a creative and scientific outlet with the audio industry, Ken still finds some time to dabble in the dirt. One of his current side projects is trying to rehabilitate an abandoned coffee and macadamia nut farm in Hawaii.<\/p>\n

“We’re going to harvest the beans, we’re going to process them, bring them here green, roast them and try to do Campfire Coffee Farms at some point.”<\/p>\n

Whether it\u2019s plants or audio, one thing is certain: Ken will always find a way to deliver the cream of the crop.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

He was running a laboratory as a plant pathologist for the United States Department of Agriculture when he decided it was time for a change. The natural career move\u2014of course\u2014was jumping into the audio industry. \u201cThe government job was kind of boring and I was just on autopilot. It wasn\u2019t really where I wanted to […]<\/p>\n

Read More…<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":67,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[],"tags":[1],"yoast_head":"\nFrom plants to Campfire Audio: the story of Ken Ball - Our Stories<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/ourstories.shinola.com\/our-stories\/from-plants-to-campfire-audio-the-story-of-ken-ball\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"From plants to Campfire Audio: the story of Ken Ball - Our Stories\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"He was running a laboratory as a plant pathologist for the United States Department of Agriculture when he decided it was time for a change. 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