SpectraLayers Explained
If you've messed around with Steinberg's SpectraLayers at all, you've likely been extremely impressed with its incredible capabilities. In this SpectraLayers video course, production expert Gary Hiebner takes you on a deep dive into SpectraLayers, shedding light on its seemingly innumerous audio editing functions and features and providing helpful demonstrations and explanations throughout. Whether it's simple noise reduction or something more specific and detailed, like ambience matching, it's all covered in this SpectraLayers video course! These videos are for new SpectraLayers users.
Videos
• Introduction (01:25) - We start off this video series by first explaining what spectral editing is and then follow with what will be covered in the video series on SpectraLayers and its unique feature set.
• Using as Standalone vs DAW (03:34) - Here we take a look at the different ways that you can run SpectraLayers: as a standalone application, or in your DAW through the ARA protocol or an external audio editor.
• Setting Up Your Audio Device & Creating a New Audio Project (04:10) - In this video, you see how to setup your audio device correctly and how to change the settings with the inputs and outputs. Plus, we take a look at how to create a new audio project and record an audio part to the project. We finish off by walking you through the user interface.
• Opening an Audio File (01:45) - Learn how to open up an audio file and see the difference between the mono audio file (created in the previous video) and the stereo file opened in this video.
• Using the Display Parameters (02:40) - Here, Gary goes over different ways you can view and display your audio, including the differences between the waveform and frequency views, and shows how you can change the display parameters to view the frequency view in different ways.
• Opening Multiple Files in Layers (03:29) - Discover two ways to open up multiple files: either they can open up in multiple tabs, or you can open up multiple files in different layers with one tab.
• Saving & Exporting Your Audio (02:23) - An important aspect of audio editing is knowing how to save and export your projects. In this video, we explore how to save and export your project and what export options are available.
• Going Over the Selection Tools (06:43) - Take a look at the different selection tools that are available and see how you can use them to create different selections in your audio. You can select specific horizontal or vertical areas and even frequency and transient-specific areas.
• Erasing & Amplifying (06:00) - This video covers the eraser tool and how you can adjust the brush size. We also look at the amplify tool and how it can amplify frequency areas of the audio, as well as changing its brush size.
• Unmixing Songs & Discussing Layers (08:18) - In this video, you'll see how to use the UnMix feature. With this, you can start with a stereo file that contains many instruments and, by way of its AI process, create layers for different types of recognized instrument sounds. Then you can go in and adjust the levels of the layers to remix a song, for example.
• Creating Long Segment MSEGs (04:54) - A unique feature with the Segments MSEG is that you can extend the time on the device and create super-long envelope shapes. You can use these to create interesting modulated instruments, such as evolving pad instruments.
• UnMixing & Editing in Your DAW (04:21) - Discover how you can use the UnMix process in a DAW using ARA. The benefit is that you can take the created layers and drag these in as new tracks in your DAW, so you can rearrange these layers and create a new remix of the song.
• UnMixing Drums (05:13) - You can use the UnMix drums to take a stereo drum track and separate the kick, snare, and cymbals. You can also take a song and use UnMix Songs to create a drums layer. Then you can use UnMix Drums to further separate the drums into individual drum elements.
• Unmixing Noise & Dialog (03:22) - The UnMix Noisy Speech process allows you to isolate the dialog from a noisy background. From there, you can adjust the level of the dialog compared to the background noise or even mute that background noise to remove the noise from the dialog altogether.
• Unmixing High & Low Levels (05:14) - UnMix Levels allows you to set a threshold between the high and low volume levels of sound in your audio. When you unmix, it creates high and low level layers, allowing you to adjust the level of each independently. Gary demonstrates how, by setting different threshold values, you can get better detection between these volume levels.
• Repairing Audio Clipping (02:36) - In this video, you'll learn how you can use the Clip Repair process to repair and redraw audio waveforms that are clipping. With Clip Repair, you can determine with the Reconstruction Ratio how much of the audio waveform you want to reconstruct.
• Using the Other Tools (03:44) - Here, Gary shows you some of the other tools and how you can use them, including ones to edit the frequencies and analytical tools where you can scan and plot point on your audio to get readouts on the levels and exact frequencies.
• Using the Composite View (03:13) - Explore the Composite view, which allows for various color mappings when working with multiple layers.
• Noise Reduction (05:43) - With the noise reduction process, you can analyze a section of noise, register that noise profile, and then use the tolerance level and reduction ratio to reduce the amount of noise in the audio.
• Reverb Reduction (03:57) - We look at the Reverb Reduction process and learn how it can reduce the amount of reverb in an audio file, such as a vocal recorded in a big room with excessive reverberation.
• Reverb Matching (03:42) - With this process, you can register a reverb profile in one sound and apply that reverb to another sound to match them. For example, you can take a dry vocal and add a registered reverb profile to it to match the reverberation of another track.
• Using EQ Match (03:30) - With EQ Match, you can register the EQ shape of one sound and apply that same EQ frequency shape to another sound. This is a great way to get two sounds to sound similar if they were recorded with different microphones.
• Ambience Match (03:38) - With Ambience Match you can register the ambience background in one sound and apply it to another. For example, you could take a city background ambience, create a snapshot of that, and then apply that to a dry voice.
• Hum Reduction (03:32) - With this process, you can remove hum noises in your sounds, such as grounding noise. Plus, you can also choose to remove any upper harmonics in that noise that have been generated.
• Merging Layers (02:51) - Discover how you can merge layers together with three different options: Merge Up, Merge Visible, and Merge All. This is a great way to consolidate layers and simplify your project.
• Imprint Mold & Cast (06:50) - With Imprint Mold, you can create a vocoder-style modulated effect when you blend one sound with another. In this video, you see how you can blend a voice with synth instruments. Then, with Imprint Cast, you can cast out an area of one sound in another sound, which helps the two sounds sit better together.
• Fixing Bleed on Audio Tracks (05:45) - Learn how to use the De-Bleed process to remove bleed of other tracks in an audio file. A good example of this is the bleed from a snare into a kick drum mic. You can choose a source that you want to remove from the audio and how much it will be reduced.
• Voice DeNoise (04:17) - Here, we look at how the Voice Denoiser process helps remove any noise with some dialog/voice. The process focuses in on removing any audio that isn't detected as a voice using its advanced AI detection tools. Running it multiple times with different settings can help remove most of the noise.
• Working with Multiple Voices & Layers (05:22) - With Unmix Voices, you can take an audio file with multiple speakers and separate each voice to its own layer, allowing you to process each voice separately.
• Transcribing Your Voice Audio (04:50) - With the Transcription Unmix process, you can detect the text in the audio and create tabs with the text. This is useful for very long voice files, since you can transcribe the audio and then use the search functionality to find specific words and phrases. Plus, you can also detect different voices and color them differently.
• Using the Transform Tool (04:49) - With the Transform Tool, you can make selections in your audio and duplicate or manipulate those selections by stretching them out and changing the frequency.
• Using SpectraLayers in Different DAWs (05:57) - In this video, you see how to use SpectraLayers in DAWs that support the ARA protocol. If your DAW doesn't support ARA, you can use it as an External Audio Editor. Gary shows you how to set this up in this video.
• Using VSTs on Your Layers (07:35) - To finish off, we show you how you can add VST effects on your layers. First, you setup your VST path, and then you add VST effects to the VST chain. You can then apply these to your layers.