Apparatus for encoding an audio signal, comprising: a converter for converting the audio signal into a spectral representation; a scale parameter calculator for calculating a first set of scale parameters from the spectral representation; a downsampler for downsampling the first set of scale parameters to obtain a second set of scale parameters, wherein a second number of scale parameters in the second set of scale parameters is lower than a first number of scale parameters in the first set of scale parameters; a scale parameter encoder for generating an encoded representation of the second set of scale parameters; a spectral processor for processing the spectral representation using a third set of scale parameters, the third set of scale parameters having a third number of scale parameters being greater than the second number of scale parameters, wherein the spectral processor is configured to use the first set of scale parameters or to derive the third set of scale parameters from the second set of scale parameters or from the encoded representation of the second set of scale parameters using an interpolation operation; and an output interface for generating an encoded output signal comprising information on an encoded representation of the spectral representation and information on an encoded representation of the second set of scale parameters, wherein the scale parameter calculator is configured to calculate, for each band of a plurality of bands of the spectral representation, an amplitude-related measure in a linear domain to obtain a first set of linear domain measures; and to transform the first set of linear-domain measures into a logarithmic domain to obtain a first set of logarithmic domain measures; and wherein the downsampler is configured to downsample the first set of scale parameters in the logarithmic domain to obtain the second set of scale parameters in the logarithmic domain. a converter for converting the audio signal into a spectral representation; a scale parameter calculator for calculating a first set of scale parameters from the spectral representation; a downsampler for downsampling the first set of scale parameters to obtain a second set of scale parameters, wherein a second number of scale parameters in the second set of scale parameters is lower than a first number of scale parameters in the first set of scale parameters; a scale parameter encoder for generating an encoded representation of the second set of scale parameters; a spectral processor for processing the spectral representation using a third set of scale parameters, the third set of scale parameters having a third number of scale parameters being greater than the second number of scale parameters, wherein the spectral processor is configured to use the first set of scale parameters or to derive the third set of scale parameters from the second set of scale parameters or from the encoded representation of the second set of scale parameters using an interpolation operation; and an output interface for generating an encoded output signal comprising information on an encoded representation of the spectral representation and information on an encoded representation of the second set of scale parameters, wherein the scale parameter calculator is configured to calculate, for each band of a plurality of bands of the spectral representation, an amplitude-related measure in a linear domain to obtain a first set of linear domain measures; and to transform the first set of linear-domain measures into a logarithmic domain to obtain a first set of logarithmic domain measures; and wherein the downsampler is configured to downsample the first set of scale parameters in the logarithmic domain to obtain the second set of scale parameters in the logarithmic domain.