There are several spectral matching EQs on the market (Logic and iZotope’s MatchEQ), but no real-time ones. XSpecMatch is a real-time spectral matching EQ with two distinct modes:
- Stereo image balance. The two channels of a stereo file are matched to each other in terms of spectral envelope. Depending on user settings, it can be left on right, right on left, left and right on a mean of both… Notice that spectral matching also means level matching, as similar spectrums will lead to similar levels.
- Matching to another file. The signal will conform to the spectral envelope of the audio received by side-chain. Note that in this mode, drastically different results may be obtained depending on the time and frequency resolutions of the process. Low resolutions can be used as mastering tools, high resolutions will lead to vocoder-like effects.