An apparatus for generating a multi-channel audio signal based on an input audio signal comprises a main signal upmixer, a section selector, a section signal upmixer and a combiner. The main signal upmixer is configured to provide a main multi-channel audio signal based on the input audio signal. The section selector is configured to select or not select a section of the input audio signal based on an analysis of the input audio signal. The selected section of the input audio signal, a processed selected section of the input audio signal or a reference signal associated with the selected section of the input audio signal is provided as section signal. The section signal upmixer is configured to provide a section upmix signal based on the section signal, and the combiner is configured to overlay the main multi-channel audio signal and the section upmix signal to obtain the multi-channel audio signal.