Utrecht, the Netherlands (November 24, 2025)—Following the approach of its 2022 LP Empire Central, Jazz-fusion collective Snarky Puppy recorded its latest album, Somni, in front of a live audience to capture the energy and spontaneity that define the band’s sound. Recorded over three nights in January 2025 in Utrecht, the Netherlands, the sessions united Snarky Puppy with the Metropole Orkest and conductor Jules Buckley. Bandleader Michael League and his ensemble performed the album start to finish as fans surrounded the musicians in the room.
Audio-Technica has had an 18-year partnership with the band, and the new album’s recording was no exception, helping ensure that the group could be surrounded by an audience without a need for using loudspeakers. “The idea is that the audience provides energy for the band,” says engineer and longtime collaborator Nic Hard. “That excitement translates into the recordings, keeping the performances fresh and alive.”
Giving Snarky Puppy’s ‘Empire Central’ A Dolby Atmos Mix
To achieve this hybrid recording environment, Hard and his team transformed a nightclub-style venue into a professional studio. The space was fully carpeted, draped, and acoustically treated, with truss-mounted fabric controlling reflections. More than 200 audio channels fed four synchronized Pro Tools systems running at 96 kHz. Because there was no P.A. system, all 300 audience members monitored the session through Audio-Technica headphones paired with wireless RF packs delivering a custom live mix from front-of-house engineer Michael Harrison.
Audio-Technica was present in other capacities, too. The microphone arsenal for Somni included the new ATM355VF compact clip-on cardioid condenser for violinist Zach Brock; AT4081 bidirectional ribbons on horns; AE6100 hypercardioid handhelds for talkback; AT5047 large-diaphragm condensers on vocals and woodwinds; AT5045 instrument condensers for percussion; AT4033a condensers for Hammond organ; and PRO35 condensers across the string section.
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Hard notes that mic choice and isolation were crucial in capturing dozens of instruments, four drum kits, violins and percussion, all sharing the same room. “We relied heavily on AT4050s in the percussion setup, about 20 mics covering 50 to 60 instruments, constantly changing polar patterns between cardioid, omni, and figure-eight depending on the song. For horns, I paired AT4081 ribbons with other condensers, using both for redundancy and to compare bleed.”
The band used ATH-M50x limited edition ice blue headphones with ATH-M50x white headphones for the Metropole Orkest and ATH-M20x black headphones for the audience.
