Recording - December 2013 - 42

Sony Creative Software Audio Master Suite

will still be pleased with the flexibility and
usefulness of the meters during both recording and monitoring.
The new plug-in chain management system has also been reworked, with a new
interface for dealing with the order of plugins, preset selections and interface displays.
As with earlier versions, you can store chains
as large-scale presets, but interacting with a
chain is now easier (and, frankly, much easier on the eyes). But perhaps of greater interest is the set of new processing tools provided by Sony's collaboration with iZotope.
Previous versions of Sound Forge introduced some iZotope-based processing
tools, but version 11 has opened the
floodgates with several restoration and
mastering tools plus a new multi-function
vocal processing plug-in called Nectar
Elements, which many readers will recall
from our full review back in May 2012.
This plug-in combines several often-used
processors (such as compression, filtering
and reverb) with an impressive set of presets to create a vocal-enhancement powerhouse. The presets have a musical and stylistic orientation, with categories like
Country, Rock, Hip Hop & Rap and Voice
Over & Dialog. This makes it very easy to
audition and use impressive processing
combinations without having to dive into
the tweaky details. I used Nectar Elements
in a few production situations, and found
that having it available within Sound Forge
is a match made in heaven.
SpectraLayers Pro 2
But perhaps the most impressive and
inspiring tool in the Master Suite is external
to Sound Forge: it is the SpectraLayers Pro
2 application. This is a separate program
that provides spectral (frequency-based)
editing of audio at a level previously
unheard of.
When you first encounter SpectraLayers
Pro, you may be thrown off by its appearance-it just doesn't look like any audio
editor you've ever seen; it looks much
more like a graphics design program.
Well, your eyes aren't deceiving you; it's
clear that programs like Photoshop were
very influential on the software designers
at Sony. Working with SpectraLayers Pro
gives you many of the tools that graphics
designers have been using for years: the
ability to create or extract layers,
move/copy/draw/warp/smear layers
independently, then composite the result
into a final audio track. The usefulness of
this system for both audio restoration and
adventurous sound design should be obvious, and the implementation, once you
42

RECORDING December 2013

get used to it, puts some amazing tools in
the sound editor's hands.
Although it's a separate program,
SpectraLayers Pro has a smooth integration
with Sound Forge. While editing in Sound
Forge, you can select "Process with
SpectraLayers" from the menu, at which point
the application is started and your selected
audio is placed inside an audio layer. When
you are done manipulating the audio, you

unwanted noise or taming certain types of
distortion. But SpectraLayers adds another
dimension: layers. You can create layers
based on a portion of the frequency spectrum of the file, and limit the layer to a certain time period. Once a layer is created,
you can move, copy or alter that portion of
the audio without affecting anything else.
You can also pull in layers from other files,
allowing you to combine file content in a
totally novel way.
SpectraLayers Pro 2 adds another feature,
which is the ability to use one layer as a
"mold" to alter other layers. Sony calls this
Spectral Molding (creating a layer that will
be used as a effecting tool) and Spectral
Casting (using the mold to alter other layers).

send it back to Sound Forge, at which point
it replaces the audio you were editing. This
process takes more effort to describe than to
perform, for which Sony deserves a salute. I
also appreciate that this externalized function
is integrated into my workflow without messing up the lean-and-mean user interface that
Sound Forge provides.
What exactly does SpectraLayers do? As
a spectral program, it provides a frequency-based view of the audio, and the ability
to edit parts of the file based on both frequency and time-perfect for eliminating

This is a unique way of file editing; it is
unique enough that Sony has trademarked
these process names. Spectral Molding and
Casting are an exciting addition to the sound
designer's toolkit, and may well change your
view on how to integrate complex mixes.
One thing to note: SpectraLayers Pro 2
is quite system intensive, and has some
pretty specific computer specifications,
especially for your graphics card. This
one bit me; trying to use my reasonably
well-specified (but graphics card-challenged) laptop gave me artifacts while

Recording - December 2013

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