Spectral effects are a relatively new technology, and in recent years their popularity has really taken off. Developers from all over the world have been releasing plugins using a new buzzword: spectral processing. iZotope, Sonible, Mastering The Mix and plenty more have all gotten in on the action - but what exactly are spectral effects, and what can they do?
Spectral processing is a technology only possible in the digital domain. Spectral effects use fast Fourier transform (FFT) calculations to break down audio into a representation of the frequency spectrum. Next, the spectrum is broken down into many different bands, and it's these that are processed individually.
In many ways, spectral processing can be thought of as “hyper-multiband”, using many more bands to do the job. But while the user can program three or four bands’ worth of settings in a multiband effects processor, the many bands in spectral processing have to rely on rules that govern how any given band processes audio. These rules may be programmed in by the developer, or could be governed by parameters set by the user.
I Spectral processing technology can be applied in all sorts of ways. Perhaps the most obvious is iZotope's RX which can perform a huge range of functions using spectral processing technology.
For example, RX can separate mixdowns into individual instrument stems, remove background noise and even perform spectral recovery on thin sounding audio.
Elsewhere, plugins like Oeksound's Soothe2 have taken producers’ plugin folders by storm, offering taming of harshness and resonances wherever they appear along the frequency spectrum. This sort of ‘moving-target’ processing is perfect for a spectral application, working
