Tweet
Every once in a while you'll hear a mix that sounds out of this world, and that's often thanks to the Haas Effect. You'll listen, wondering how they achieved such width and depth in the mix. There must be some secret trick, right? You're correct, and today I'll explain to you exactly what it is and how to use it...
What is the Haas Effect?
The Haas Effect is a binaural psychoacoustical effect that causes humans to hear two separate auditory events as a single sound when they are separated by a very short delay and are of similar volumes and wave forms.
Let's break that down. The word 'binaural' refers to how our two ears come together to help our brains perceive the location of a sound. In this case, sound localization occurs based on which of these two sounds we're referring to arrive at our ears first. This is why this effect is also called the law of the first wavefront.
To summarize, if two nearly identical sounds arrive at your ears within 5 milliseconds to 30 ms of each other and are within a 10 decibels volume range, you'll perceive them as one sound at the location of the wave form to arrive first.
The second sound still affects the perceived location, but not as you'd expect. Because it's still understood by our brains as one sound, you'll hear a widening of the sound across the stereo field although you can still pinpoint the exact location of where the sound is coming from.
Various studies have since occurred, but here's the safe numbers you can work with to achieve this fusion of two separate sounds into one:
Short sounds would be instruments like a hi-hat or snare drum while longer sounds refer to complex waveforms with intricate timbre like vocals, piano, or guitar.
- For short sounds like clicks: 1 ms to 5 ms
- For longer & more complex sounds: 1 ms to 40 ms
- Volume variation must stay within 10 dB to 15 dB
Short sounds would be instruments like a hi-hat or snare drum while longer sounds refer to complex waveforms with intricate timbre like vocals, piano, or guitar.
Why Use the Haas Effect in Mixing?
The only reason to reach for this method when mixing is to increase the sense of width of one instrument and to increase depth in the whole mix. And you should only even consider it when you're working with an otherwise sparse mix that might be too boring without it (in my opinion), due to the dangers we'll mention below.
Width - Again, by using a short enough delay that your two panned copies of the same track sound like one track, you also get the "smearing" effect of reverb that causes the track to have a widened presence across the stereo field.
Because you only have one delay versus tons of them like reverb, you maintain all of the clarity of it being a single instance of playback. But because the width now stretches across the space you've decided with panning, it gives context to other instruments in that area.
Depth - Depth is usually created using a decaying reverb tail or by juxtaposing one track against another at various volume levels. The point is, you have to have something to compare a track against in order to create an experience of depth. Empty space in the stereo field can't provide this, but your widened track can.
These are the two reasons you'll use this effect, and you shouldn't reach for it unless you have to. If you can record in stereo or record two independent mono takes, then you should do that. Otherwise you run into the problems mentioned below.
The only reason to reach for this method when mixing is to increase the sense of width of one instrument and to increase depth in the whole mix. And you should only even consider it when you're working with an otherwise sparse mix that might be too boring without it (in my opinion), due to the dangers we'll mention below.
Width - Again, by using a short enough delay that your two panned copies of the same track sound like one track, you also get the "smearing" effect of reverb that causes the track to have a widened presence across the stereo field.
Because you only have one delay versus tons of them like reverb, you maintain all of the clarity of it being a single instance of playback. But because the width now stretches across the space you've decided with panning, it gives context to other instruments in that area.
Depth - Depth is usually created using a decaying reverb tail or by juxtaposing one track against another at various volume levels. The point is, you have to have something to compare a track against in order to create an experience of depth. Empty space in the stereo field can't provide this, but your widened track can.
These are the two reasons you'll use this effect, and you shouldn't reach for it unless you have to. If you can record in stereo or record two independent mono takes, then you should do that. Otherwise you run into the problems mentioned below.
How to Use the Haas Method
To put this method into action, you'll take your boring mono track in a sparse mix and apply some very specific steps:
That's how it's done. It sounds easy and is for the most part but let's break each step out into it's own explanation so it's absolutely clear what we intend on doing here.
To put this method into action, you'll take your boring mono track in a sparse mix and apply some very specific steps:
- Duplicate the mono track and pan both versions opposite of each other.
- Choose which side you want to be the location of the sound and add a delay to the other.
- Combat phase issues by detuning slightly with a pitch shifter.
That's how it's done. It sounds easy and is for the most part but let's break each step out into it's own explanation so it's absolutely clear what we intend on doing here.
Comment