A method for encoding of an audio signal, comprising the steps of: obtaining a low band synthesis signal of an encoding of said audio signal; obtaining a first energy measure of a first reference band within a low band in said low band synthesis signal; performing a transform of said audio signal into a transform domain; selecting an energy offset from a set of at least two predetermined energy offsets for each of a plurality of first subbands of a first high band (HB-1) of said audio signal in said transform domain; said first high band (HB-1) being situated at higher frequencies than said low band; and encoding (219, 220) said first high band (HB-1); said step of encoding said first high band (HB-1) comprises providing of a first set of quantization indices representing a respective scalar quantization of a spectrum envelope in said plurality of first subbands of said first high band (HB-1) relative to said first energy measure; said first set of quantization indices being given with a respective said selected energy offset; said step of encoding of said first high band (HB-1) further comprises providing of a parameter defining the used energy offset; obtaining a second energy measure of a second reference band within said low band in said low band synthesis signal; encoding a second high band (HB-2) of said audio signal in said transform domain; said second high band (HB-2) being situated in frequency between said low band and said first high band (HB-1); and said step of encoding said second high band (HB-2) comprises providing of a second set of quantization indices representing a respective scalar quantization of a spectrum envelope in a plurality of second subbands of said second high band (HB-2) relative to said second energy measure. obtaining a low band synthesis signal of an encoding of said audio signal; obtaining a first energy measure of a first reference band within a low band in said low band synthesis signal; performing a transform of said audio signal into a transform domain; selecting an energy offset from a set of at least two predetermined energy offsets for each of a plurality of first subbands of a first high band (HB-1) of said audio signal in said transform domain; said first high band (HB-1) being situated at higher frequencies than said low band; and encoding (219, 220) said first high band (HB-1); said step of encoding said first high band (HB-1) comprises providing of a first set of quantization indices representing a respective scalar quantization of a spectrum envelope in said plurality of first subbands of said first high band (HB-1) relative to said first energy measure; said first set of quantization indices being given with a respective said selected energy offset; said step of encoding of said first high band (HB-1) further comprises providing of a parameter defining the used energy offset; obtaining a second energy measure of a second reference band within said low band in said low band synthesis signal; encoding a second high band (HB-2) of said audio signal in said transform domain; said second high band (HB-2) being situated in frequency between said low band and said first high band (HB-1); and said step of encoding said second high band (HB-2) comprises providing of a second set of quantization indices representing a respective scalar quantization of a spectrum envelope in a plurality of second subbands of said second high band (HB-2) relative to said second energy measure.