  We present a high order perturbation approach to quantitatively calculate
spectral densities in three distinct steps starting from the model Hamiltonian
and the observables of interest. The approach is based on the perturbative
continuous unitary transformation introduced previously. It is conceived to
work particularly well in models allowing a clear identification of the
elementary excitations above the ground state. These are then viewed as
quasi-particles above the vacuum. The article focuses on the technical aspects
and includes a discussion of series extrapolation schemes. The strength of the
method is demonstrated for S=1/2 two-leg Heisenberg ladders, for which results
are presented.
