Spectral Layers Audio Software by Divide.Frame

Allow me to paint a picture for you... Imagine being able to locate, isolate, and extract nearly any track from any song that you have in digital format without the use of time consuming and tired tactics. Divide.Frame's latest software; Spectral Layers does precisely that.  With a degree of accuracy that's currently unavailable to the world of audio to boot. As of right now the glory that is Spectral Layers and the company behind it known as Divide.Frame is relatively unknown. The software is still in the alpha testing phase and not available to the public. Yet...
 

Spectral Layers is the brainchild of Robin Lobel, the main mind behind the company that is Divide.Frame. Divide.Frame is a French company specializing in the development of software tools for the broadcast industry designed to optimize workflow while making life easier for audio and video professionals alike. Divide.Frame started 2 years ago and after the release of a successful video plug-in designed to accelerate hi-def video decoding by utilizing the power of a PC's GPU. Robin set out to work on Spectral Layers keeping a tight lid on the development of the software until just a few days ago when Robin released the first glimpses of the program to the public. Robin has been involved with research and design in multiple aspects related to the audio and video industry for some time now and Spectral Layers is only his latest creation. With a career that spans post production, video production, the R&D engineering world and graphic design game the resume is obviously massive enough for it's own webpage. Being that it's likely you've never heard of Divide.Frame I figured some info on the founder and company would be helpful to all of you searching for more information about Spectral Layers and the people behind it.

Now that you're a little more familiar with the mind and machine behind Spectral Layers lets dive into the software and the reasons behind its inception.

Spectral Layers is a cross platform (Windows/Mac) program so there is no need to worry about not being able to put this beast to work on your computer. It employs high quality 32 bit floating point processing designed to give the user the accuracy and detail they need to precisely edit audio without degradation even after down sampling. Spectral Layers includes support for surround projects and allows for real time file transformation as well as a 3D display of the sonic elements within the audio file you're working on. While you'll obviously have to use your ears when working with Spectral Layers the program was designed to be more visual than typical waveform analysis. The software accurately lays out the audio file across the spectrum allowing you to create non-destructive layers while giving you access to specialized tools designed to analyze and extract specific sources of audio and their harmonics from recordings. Got a trumpet you'd like to isolate from a guitar in a stereo audio file. No Problem. Watch and learn below.


Spectral Layers - Tutorial 2 : Frequency/Harmonic Tools from DIVIDE FRAME on Vimeo.
Spectral Layers was originally the result of Robin's quest to create something that could extract clean dialogue tracks from street recordings quickly and efficiently. Needless to say, Robin quickly noticed that his creation could be much more than just a post location recording tool. Imaging a "Photoshop-like"audio editor that could achieve virtually any kind of audio transformation fathomable. According to Robin the idea was to get away from "magical filters" whilst providing the user full control over the audio spectrum with a proprietary tool set and a non-destructive layers system. Similar to Photoshop, only for audio.

After a friend turned me onto Spectral Layers a few days ago and I was immediately floored. Never had I witnessed such precision control over a digital audio file in my life and my mind began buzzing with ideas of how I could put Spectral Layers to work in my freelance audio business. After I calmed down a bit from having my fix of videos and info on the software satisfied by the Divide.Frame website, I emailed Robin hoping for more on the company and program. This post is a result of that email correspondence and I'd like to thank Robin again for taking the time to chat with me so I could pass the info onto all of you.

As you've seen and read, it's clear that Spectral Layers allows you to isolate and manipulate virtually any voice, noise, sound or instrument within an audio file with a level of efficiency that has never before been seen in the audio industry.  Get this, word is from Robin there are still more features to be added as development continues on Spectral Layers at this very moment.  To think, we haven't even seen all of it yet!  There's no doubt in my mind this software will be a massive success within the industry and I can't wait for more details from Divide.Frame regarding the program, its features and the concrete release date. Despite the fact we are just hearing about Spectral Layers, Robin hopes to roll the software out around the end of Quarter 4, 2011 if everything goes to plan. Get ready ladies and gentlemen, Spectral Layers is going to change the already lawless game of audio!

There are a few more videos on Spectral Layers available at Divide.Frame's Vimeo page including a clip that gives you a run down of the user interface. If you'd like to learn more about Divide.Frame be sure to check out their webpage.

:::Update::: (7/10/11) I spoke with Robin again and he let me know that the release date for Spectral Layers should be around the end of October 2011.

All the best,

Nick

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