Mixing Night Audio GreenHAAS review

Mixing Night Audio GreenHAAS: What is it?

Ken Lewis is a Grammy-nominated producer and mixer who has also developed numerous educational resources via his Audio School Online and, more recently, his Mixing Night live streams. GreenHAAS is a new plugin available via the Mixing Night Audio website that takes a number of Ken’s favourite processes and bundles them into a fun and easy-to-use processor. However, it’s fair to say GreenHAAS is not your typical artist-endorsed plugin. Indeed, Ken’s name is nowhere to be seen. So, what does the plugin actually do?

GreenHAAS is a saturation and stereo enhancement plugin. The interface is divided into three sections with the saturation on the left and Haas delay and modulation on the right. Each section has an individual bypass and there’s a global bypass as well. There are three saturation types coupled with high and low-cut EQs, input level and drive type. 

Ken has selected three very distinctive and sonically pleasing saturations that include reasonably subtle (Infrared), harmonic heavy (Gamma) and somewhere in between (Ultraviolet). Labelling is suitably gamified too, with no parameter readouts, so the fact that input level is set using the Heat slider and drive type via the Sundial knob seems suitably fitting. 

Mixing Night Audio GreenHAAS: Performance and verdict

Whatever your thoughts on the interface, once you fire up a few sounds, you’ll soon realise the plugin definitely means business. So whether you want to add presence to an 808, some edge to a DI’d electric bass or guitar, or simply liven up any dull-sounding instrument, there are plenty of options. Indeed, the more we dug into it, the more we began to appreciate the subtle differences between each of the saturation settings. 

Haas

The Haas or precedence effect is a psychoacoustic phenomenon linked to the fact that human hearing cannot perceive very short delays between sounds (up to around 40ms). So if two sounds are played in quick succession they sound like one sound. What’s more, the perceived location of the sound is dominated by whichever sound arrives at our ears first. By splitting a mono sound into two identical panned components and adjusting the delay time to one side we can actually change the perceived position of the sound in the stereo field or simply make the sound appear wider. 

This is a classic engineering trick that is harnessed in GreenHAAS to provide various types of width enhancement. Unsurprisingly, how the effect sounds is very sensitive to the delay times used, and with GreenHAAS some of the settings are longer and deliver audible slapback effects. Even so, each combination of left/right Timer setting yields its own groovy results.

Feel the width

The Haas delay section features a timing control for each channel, dry/wet mix, high-cut EQ and delay feedback (Fertiliser). Meanwhile there’s a choice of six delay modulation types. The timing settings are all different, so even if you select the same knob position for left and right you’ll still get some widening. 

With the most extreme settings you’ll also get quite an obvious slap-back delay, and it’s quite clear that the delay timings go beyond the limits for the Haas effect. Even so, to control the overall width of the effect you simply use the dry/wet mix. Of course, once you start to wind in the feedback, things take on a whole new character. Throw in one of the modulations and you can create all sorts of flanging and chorusing effects. In fact, it’s quite easy for things to get quite lively.

Ultimately, GreenHAAS is a vibe plugin where you try the available knobs and buttons and, most importantly, use your ears to find a sound that suits. That said, GreenHAAS does have more than 50 presets, many of them created by Ken himself. So, whether you’re using the preset Try On Bass Guitar to add subtle spice to a plain DI’d bass, or using Tape Cassette In The Sun for some extreme vintage character, the presets offer great insight into what it can do.

Needless to say, we love this plugin. It’s fun, creative and offers a great diversion both visually and sonically from the more staid plugins that dominate most workflows

MusicRadar verdict: GreenHAAS uses an unconventional interface to deliver classic effects and is easy and fun to use. Recommended.

Mixing Night Audio GreenHAAS: Hands-on demos

Mixing Night Audio

Busy Works Beats

Tim Talks Audio

Mixing Night Audio GreenHAAS: Specifications

• macOS 10.12 or higher; Windows 10.
• CPU: Intel or M1 Chip (Apple). Display Resolution: 1280x800px or higher.
• Plugin Formats: AAX Native, AAX AudioSuite, AU, VST3.
• CONTACT: Mixing Night Audio