Next, I imported a lead vocal track into a new SLP document, copied and pasted frequencies from roughly 500 to 4,000 Hz along the entire timeline to a new layer, and boosted the gamma slider slightly in the Level Gamma Offset dialog. I could also remove AC hum and buzz, but it took a lot longer to execute cleanly (without removing other elements of the mix) than when using iZotope RX2 Hum Remover. I used SLP’s Extract/Noise tool to virtually eliminate broadband noise from a stereo music mix. I liked that I could use my 32- and 64-bit VST plug-ins to process individual layers offline, and a preview mode facilitated auditioning the effect before rendering. Very high zoom levels are CPU-intensive and made my Mac Pro very sluggish. SLP ignored the default outputs in MOTU PCI Audio Setup utility (which routes audio to and from my Mac) and arbitrarily routed its outputs to other channels in another I/O box. Numerous parameter settings for the spectrogram (such as zoom, contrast and resolution levels) were not retained when saving the project file that hindered my immediate resumption of microscopic work where I’d left off the day before. Clicking with a time cursor in the spectrogram set my initial playback location and rewind-to point, but there were no auto-return or loop functions. I couldn’t create markers to facilitate navigation. Several tools each alternately functioned as a spectrum selector and extractor, making operation extremely confusing each tool should have a discrete function. You can also mix all your layers in SLP and export the mix to a new audio file. The resulting file can then be either exported or dragged and dropped into your DAW for further processing and remixing. The Modify/Eraser tool lets you remove unwanted frequencies along the spectrogram’s timeline by painting them with your mouse.Įach layer can be rendered in a popular audio format to bake in its processing. While soloing a layer, you might hear that you extracted some chaff along with the wheat. A layer can also be transposed in pitch and moved elsewhere in the timeline. Raise the dialog’s offset slider to completely mute the layer’s low-power frequencies. Use the Level Gamma Offset dialog to make the instrument’s weaker frequencies stronger by increasing the layer’s gamma. (A pan control would be more practical.) Click on the bass-guitar layer to solo it, raise the layer’s fader to make it louder, or invert the phase to remove the instrument from the full mix. In SLP’s Mix Channels dialog, you can adjust faders to set the amount of cross-feed the bass will have in the left and right channels of that layer. Say you’ve parsed the bass guitar from a stereo mix into a discrete layer-a Herculean task, as it requires cleanly extracting each note (with its harmonics) in turn for the entire length of the mix. SpectraLayers Pro can also generate noise or a discrete frequency (which you can modulate over time by mouse-dragging up and down in the spectrogram) and add it to existing audio at a level you set in decibels such mayhem is most useful for sound design. The resulting phase cancellation will mute the extracted elements at SLP’s output. After extracting a frequency band, single frequency, series of harmonics or noise to a discrete layer, you can invert the layer’s phase and combine it with the layer for the original (in-phase) audio clip. To extract noise, paint with your mouse where only noise occurs and then apply the Extract/Noise tool across the entire time and frequency ranges of the clip. You can also extract a single frequency and, optionally, all of its harmonics to a discrete layer this is how you’d extract a single bass-guitar note from a full mix. The original clip remains intact in its layer. You can create another (empty) layer, make it active and use editing tools to transfer (extract, in SLP parlance) a band- and time-limited snippet of content from the full clip to it. When you import an audio clip into SLP, it appears in a new layer. The stand-alone program (not available as a plug-in) shows your imported audio in an auto-scrolling spectrogram having time (horizontal) and frequency (vertical) axes (see figure). Using an 8-core Mac Pro running OS X 10.8.2, I tested SpectraLayers Pro Version 1.0.21 in restoration, sound design and remastering applications. SpectraLayers Pro lets you extract in turn the various embedded elements of a mono or stereo audio file, transfer each component to a discrete layer (a track synced to the original audio) and process the layers independently to create an entirely new mix of the material. This zoomed view shows a 65Hz tone (red blotches) added to kick-drum hits in a previously archived master. SpectraLayers Pro displays and edits audio in a spectrogram.
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