What is spectral repair and what type of problems does it address?

• A. A spectral editing process that removes or attenuates noise (hiss, room rumble) while preserving speech.
• B. A method for compressing dynamic range in a final mix.
• C. A technique for aligning dialogue to the picture timeline.
• D. A process for converting stereo audio to mono.

Answer: (A)

Spectral repair is a spectral editing technique used to clean up audio by removing or attenuating unwanted sounds while keeping the spoken content intact. It works by analyzing the signal in the time–frequency domain and targeting noise—like hiss, room rumble, hum, wind, or pops—so you can reduce or remove those elements without degrading the dialogue. This approach preserves speech by isolating and suppressing only the spectral components that represent noise, rather than applying broad changes that affect the entire signal. It’s not about compressing dynamics, syncing dialogue to picture, or downmixing stereo to mono, which are different tools for other kinds of problems.