MHB Red - Out Now

Back in January, we announced MHB Red, our second plugin collaboration with Grammy-winning mix engineer Michael H. Brauer. Today, it's here.

MHB Red is a virtual analog compressor and saturator based on Michael's rare Fairchild* 666 - a lesser-known but highly musical design within the Fairchild lineage, and a long-time secret weapon in his personal collection. If you've heard Michael's mixes for Coldplay, John Mayer, or Florence and the Machine, you've heard this compressor at work.

A Fairchild Unlike Any Other

Most engineers know the Fairchild 660 and 670: the delta-mu tube compressor/limiters that became the "holy grail" of outboard gear. The 666 is a fundamentally different design. It was Fairchild's hybrid opto-compressor, pairing 12BH7 and 12AX7 vacuum tubes in the audio path with solid-state control circuitry. That combination produces a compression character and tube saturation quality all its own - part compressor, part saturation box.

The original Fairchild 666 was an early acquisition at Abbey Road Studios (purchased in January 1963, a full year before the studio acquired the 660) and saw use at Motown's Hitsville studios in Detroit during the 1960s. Today, surviving units are exceptionally rare and almost never change hands.

What's in MHB Red

As with the original hardware, MHB Red is best thought of as a compressor and a saturator. We've modernized the controls for an intuitive plugin workflow while preserving the tone and response characteristics of Michael's unit:

• Attack - 10ms to 200ms
• Ratio - 2:1 to 8:1
• Threshold - 0dB to -40dB
• Release - 30ms to 3s
• Makeup Gain - 0dB to 20dB
• THD - A dedicated total harmonic distortion control that calibrates the clipping point of the compressor's virtual tubes, ranging from subtle warmth to aggressive saturation

The original Fairchild 666 included a feature called "Auto-Ten" - an automatic attenuator designed as an early noise gate. In practice, the Auto-Ten is bypassed entirely in most surviving units, including Michael's. MHB Red omits it altogether, focusing exclusively on the compressor and tube amplifier stages that give the 666 its distinctive musical character.

Built for the Mix

MHB Red includes the workflow features established in MHB Green and our other plugins:

• Sidechain HPF and LPF - Shape what the compressor responds to
• Stereo Link - Dual mono by default, with linkable sidechain for stereo bus use
• Wet/Dry Mix - For parallel compression on drums, buses, or subtler mastering applications
• Analog Entropy - Kazrog's component tolerance variation modeling, creating authentic stereo width without phase issues
• A/B Compare - Two preset slots for quick comparison
• Copper and Black themes - Based on alternate faceplates from the original hardware

Efficient and Cross-Platform

MHB Red is available in VST2, VST3, AAX, Audio Units, and LV2 formats on macOS, Windows, and Linux. Adaptive oversampling keeps CPU usage reasonable during playback and maximizes quality on bounce. No iLok, no authorization - just install and go. A free, time-unlimited demo is available.

Developed with Michael Brauer

Like MHB Green before it, MHB Red was developed through hands-on collaboration with Michael, with real-world mix testing throughout the process to ensure the plugin reflects how the hardware is actually used in modern production - not a generalized "vintage" approximation.

MHB Red is available now for $49.99