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As immersive video formats grow in popularity, NPR audio engineers have been experimenting with techniques for how to record high-quality spatial audio — an audio format that allows a listener to experience sound in all directions.NPR’s initial foray into 360-degree video began as part of the Journalism 360 Challenge (J360), which focused on exploring some of the simplest ways to work in an immersive medium with a compact and portable equipment setup.During a recent trip to Puerto Rico, I helped engineer a rich, immersive audio-video project on the aftermath of Hurricane Maria. Our audio engineering team also explored new territory — combining sound-rich and immersive audio with in-depth reporting and narrative.As an audio engineer, I was asked to join the project to focus explicitly on high-end immersive spatial audio. This meant two things: First, capturing audio from the camera position with a higher-quality microphone and recorder setup. And second, using more advanced techniques and tools in post-production to enhance the final product, including adding additional audio recorded separately from the main spatial rig.In this post, we provide a detailed look at recording spatial audio from an engineer’s perspective. It will be most useful for those with a basic understanding of audio engineering fundamentals. We’ll use our recent trip to Puerto Rico to demonstrate one example of an immersive spatial audio workflow.