A method includes receiving, at a vocoder, an audio signal sampled at a first sample rate. The method also includes generating, at a low-band encoder of the vocoder, a low-band excitation signal based on a low-band portion of the audio signal. The method further includes generating a first baseband signal at a high-band encoder of the vocoder. Generating the first baseband signal includes performing a spectral flip operation on a nonlinearly transformed version of the low-band excitation signal. The first baseband signal corresponds to a first sub-band of a high-band portion of the audio signal. The method also includes generating a second baseband signal corresponding to a second sub-band of the high-band portion of the audio signal. The first sub-band is distinct from the second sub-band.