For years editors have fought audio waveforms to mix and correct audio files. I say fight because it has never been an easy task unless you are recording in a pristine studio environment. The outside world often collides with our desire to attain sweet, perfect sound. Even if you use a premium audio mastering service like Tiny Thunder Audio Mastering, there are things that can get in the way of you being able to generate the perfect sound for your audio.
Sony has created a unique and amazingly easy way to fix the many problems that you can encounter with audio.
Let me illustrate. You’re on set, on a park location and your talent is ready for the scene. The birds are chirping, almost on que., the lighting is perfect. Camera is set and you roll. Things start out great, only to have an ambulance in the background, screaming past for what seems like forever. Take ruined.
Well you can fix it now in post with Spectral Layers.
With an ordinary waveform based edit you can possibly remove the offending sound, but you are also left with a vacuum where the sound existed. Along comes Spectral Layers with it’s waveform spectra and you can ‘lift’ the unwanted noise out of the mix without disturbing the surrounding audio. This can be exceptionally helpful if you’re looking to produce a podcast with help from experts here, and don’t want to compromise any element of your sound quality in the process.
The elegant display allows to view audio in an entirely different way. The multi dimensional spectral display reveals both time based and frequency based graphs of your audio. It becomes clearly identifiable allowing you to unmix your audio files into discrete layers. To get ride of unwanted sound is a matter of identifying it in the graph, selecting it with the various tools at your disposal and create it’s opposite phase counterpart. Much the same way that noise cancellation works.
Not only can you remove sounds, you can also precisely adjust them for pitch or amplification. In short, this tool is a master audio engineers’ dream. With Spectral Layers Software you don’t need a scary room full of high end, expensive audio equipment, just a very affordable, friendly Mac or PC.
This software is the future of audio editing, now!
In Sony’s press release they describe what’s happening.
“SpectraLayers introduces an innovative, unique workflow that redefines what can be accomplished in the professional audio editor’s suite,” said Dave Chaimson, vice president of global marketing for Sony Creative Software. “The level of editing precision and advanced capabilities SpectraLayers offers makes it an essential tool for industry professionals who demand the deepest audio analysis tools.”
SpectraLayers Offers the Following Transformational Features:
Extreme Audio Editing
- Divide audio files into discrete, user-defined layers that can be processed independently and reintegrated to achieve perfect master files.
- Remove unwanted noises and artifacts with ease while leaving surrounding audio data completely intact.
- Separate music and dialogue into individual component layers.
- Perform pitch correction on user-selected components of an audio file.
- Employ SpectraLayers in audio mastering, sound design, analysis, and forensics tasks.
- All tools are modifiable using a wide range of user-definable sensitivities and tolerances.
Extraction Tools
Extract audio into independent layers using intelligent, programmable tools:
- Area-select any audio for transfer from directly within the spectrum graph
- Frequency-track frequencies and transfer them directly to selected layers
- Harmonics-seek and select harmonics in user-defined amounts and orders.
Modification Tools
Operate directly on waveform spectra to perform precise, creative edits:
- Amplify
- Clone
- Erase
Creation Tools
Create sound directly in the SpectraLayers interface:
- Frequency
- Noise
Fidelity / Flexibility
- 32-bit 96 kHz capable.
- SpectraLayers provides seamless file transfer to Sound Forge Pro and other audio editing programs.
Dual Platform Support
SpectraLayers is available for both Mac and Windows platforms.
By: Al Caudullo