Music Sound

Spectral music is music that is concerned with timbral structures, especially when decisions about timbre are informed by a mathematical analysis known as a Fast Fourier Transform. FFTs can be used to provide graphs that illustrate details about the timbral structure of a sound, which might not be initially apparent to the ear. FFTs can also be used in creating sounds with computers, in order to transform the timbre of a sound in various ways, such as creating hybrid timbres through a collection of processes known as cross-synthesis, or applying a room reverberation to a sound through a process known as convolution.

Spectral music was first associated with France and especially with the music of Gérard Grisey, Tristan Murail, Phillippe Leroux, and Phillippe Hurel. As was the case with impressionism and many other labels for musical style, those composers whose music has been called "spectral" do not generally accept the label.