Issue link: https://digital.copcomm.com/i/1536017
Mixing Workshop. Using SpectraLayers Pro 11, he helped a student remove a generator sound from their production dialogue track. "There was no degradation of the recorded voices. The generator was just gone," he said. ADJUSTING RESOLUTION FOR IMPROVED RESTORATION While working as a sound effects editor on the "Mr. & Mrs. Smith" (2024) series for Amazon Prime Video, Redding wanted to give a subway scene an authentic NYC t ra n s p o r ta t i o n s o u n d . " I n e e d e d t h a t perfect subway door closing sound and, of course, the two-tone chime. Those sounds are so iconic. People will know if you have it wrong. I carry around a little Zoom M/S microphone for my phone, so I was able to record the subway sounds. But it wasn't the best recording since I was in the crowded NYC subway. When I imported the record- ing into SpectraLayers, I could see the two pure tones of the subway chime stand out from this massive background of noise. I highlighted it with the Lasso tool, got rid of everything else, and there we go. It all comes down to being able to zoom in and being able to increase the resolution. Then you can see exactly what you want in the spectrogram. It's funny because all these tools are so visual. SpectraLayers feels like Photoshop." In SpectraLayers Pro 11, the project display parameters can be quickly adjusted via the Display panel located in the right- side panel. Choosing "All Settings" in the drop-down menu opens an extensive list of options. The editor can set the minimum and maximum amplitudes shown in the spectral display, adjust the brightness curve, manually define the frequency range to be modified/processed, set the spectral display frequency range, choose the FFT window type (which has an impact on the spectral dynamic range), adjust the Res- olution in sub-pixels for the FFT analysis, adjust the Refinement percentage (this will sharpen the spectral display so the editor can see the exact frequencies and timings more clearly), and adjust the FFT Size. The default mode of "Essential Settings" shows only Min/Max Amplitude and FFT Size. [FFT — Fast Fourier Transform — is a mathematical algorithm that decomposes a complex audio signal into its constituent frequencies.- ed.] Adjusting the FFT Size allows the editor to bring different parts of the sound into focus as they edit by choosing between time and frequency accuracy. An FFT Size of 2048 or 4096 is good for most situations. A smaller FFT Size gives more details with time - centric events, such as transient sounds, but the frequencies will be blurrier. A larger FFT Size shows sharper frequency details, but the transients will be blurrier. Redding said, "You can increase the resolution on the spectrogram for when you're doing meticulous surgery on sounds. These display parameters aren't hidden in some preference menu, so it's easy to quickly change the resolution. If upping the resolution is using up too much computing power, then you can increase it when need- ed and then pull it right back down so you're not choking your system out." There's a 3D Perspective adjustment tool — located next to the Display panel — that allows the editor to change the per- spective of the spectral display. Instead of seeing the spectral image in a flat, 2D view (that looks like a reading on a seismograph), this feature gives the editor a 360 -de - gree-adjustable 3D view (that looks like an aerial shot of mountains) that's based on spectral amplitudes. It's an interesting and clarifying way of looking at the spectral im- age, and it makes editing the spectrogram much more precise. VISUALLY EDITING SOUND A s R e d d i n g m e n t i o n e d , s p e c t ra l l y editing sound feels very similar to editing visuals. They even share some of the same tools. In SpectraLayers Pro 11, the left-side panel contains a group of common editing tools, like the Lasso selection tool, Magic Wand selection tool, Selection Br ush, Frequency Selection/Harmonics Selection tool, Transient Selection tool, Selection Fade, and Selection Sharpen. There's the Eraser tool with many options for con- trolling what and how much to erase. The editor can choose to use a Round Brush or Square Brush, define the units used to set the brush shape proportions as either Screen Units or Spectral Units, define the brush Size in pix- els, change the Aspect Ratio of the brush, define the Width of the brush as seconds, define the Width of the brush as hertz, set the Hardness of the brush (how sharp or blurry the edges are), choose to Limit Level of eraser attenuation and then manually set that limit in decibels. There's even a Pressure Controls Strength icon that, when selected, will enable devices with pressure control to set the strength of the tool. So if an editor is using a stylus, the harder they press, the greater the attenuation. The Amplifier tool increases the volume of the frequencies under the brush. The Transfer tool losslessly transfers content from the selected layer to a target layer. So instead of doing cut/paste from one voice layer to another, the editor can use a brush to "paint" out the voice from one layer and it will be transferred to another layer. The Clone Stamp tool copies content from an editor-defined source location to the current brush location. This is helpful for fixing missing consonant sounds, such as 't' 38 C I N E M O N T A G E T E C H