Spectral effects are a relatively new area of 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 can they do?
First of all, note that spectral processing is a technology that’s only possible in the digital domain. Spectral effects use fast Fourier transform (FFT) calculations in order 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.
