Cepstrum

A cepstrum transforms a logarithmic spectrum back to a time-like coordinate. In the real-cepstrum convention for a discrete-time signal with Fourier transform $X(e^{i\omega })$,The finite-data version uses an inverse discrete Fourier transform of the log-magnitude spectrum. Zeros require suitable assumptions or numerical regularization. Using log power instead of log magnitude changes the scaling, so the convention must be stated.^[ref]

The usefulness comes from convolution: if $x=s\ast h$, then the spectra multiply and their log magnitudes add, giving $c_x=c_s+c_h$. Multiplicative source-and-filter effects become additive.

For an ideal echo filter $h[n]=\delta [n]+a\delta [n-d]$, with real $0<a<1$, expanding $\log (1+a{e}^{-i\omega d})$ givesOther coefficients vanish. Thus an echo of amplitude $1/2$ delayed by eight samples gives coefficients $1/4$ at $\pm 8$ and $-1/16$ at $\pm 16$. Peaks reveal a delay that originally appeared as spectral ripples. The output coordinate is called quefrency. Keeping only its low-quefrency coefficients can smooth a spectral envelope, while retaining high-quefrency structure can expose repetitions.