Engineer Brings Shimmer to Immersive Sessions

Boston, MA (October 20, 2025)—Christopher Moretti, a Boston-based immersive recording engineer/producer, recently completed sessions with a piano quintet using Sanken’s 100 kHz microphones.

“I reach for the CO-100K when I’m looking to add shimmer to the capture while also nourishing the mid-range,” Moretti explains. “Other omnis can provide the extra sheen, but it comes at a price of a scooped mid-range. Often, this translates to using the CO-100K as mains when cello/piano is the primary capture for either solo, in chamber music, or in front of an orchestra. Regarding immersive, the CO-100k is often my first choice for surround/height applications as the microphone accurately represents the reflections I hear in the room. This capture is critical when building a surround/Atmos mix.”

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For the sessions, with chamber group Ensemble 132, at Futura Studios, Moretti used both Sanken 100K models. “On the piano, I have two CUX-100Ks on the left and right, and we also have a CO-100K in the middle. Our two height channels for the Atmos capture are the CO-100K omnis. The CUX-100K is a versatile microphone that has three polar patterns. We have omni, cardioid (far) and cardioid (near) for the session.

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“John Weston, the owner of Futura, and I did some tests to determine which polar pattern would be the best for this recording session. When listening and doing our tests, we really enjoyed omni and cardioid (near) and in fact, we started the session in omni, but after a quick sound check, we just wanted a little bit more control over the front of the note and just have a little bit more isolation of the piano, so we switched the polar pattern to cardioid (near), and this gave us exactly what we needed for this recording.”