Contemporary mixes need punch. And to achieve maximum impact, without killing a track's dynamics, engineers turn to parallel compression (a technique that blends a dry track with a heavily compressed duplicate). IHNY-2 hosts a plug-and-play parallel configuration so you don’t have to set up any extra routing in your DAW.

The plugin is purpose-designed for slamming your tracks in parallel and it will hit harder than your typical go-to compressors. It is not subtle, but a dedicated tool for adding energy and “slap” to drums, mix buses or even the master bus (if you dare!)

IHNY-2 is an evolution of our very first plugin, I Heart NY. The original was a favorite with many users and was picked for the SOS Awards by Sound On Sound Magazine. V2 ships with new features, surgical control – and improvements in sound.

CONFIGURATION:

IHNY-2 splits the incoming audio into two duplicates. One remains untouched by the plugin (Dry track), the other is subjected to all the goodness IHNY-2 has to offer (Wet track). You balance the two signals on the vertical axis of the XY pad, while setting the compression amount of the Wet track on the horizontal axis. This allows you to operate the most important controls of the plugin in just one motion and find the sweet spot fast.

IHNY-2 has an autogain algorithm working under the hood to give you a consistent output as you move the node around the XY pad. But if you find that the make-up gain is too loud or too quiet you can use the Autogain slider to nudge its behavior.

While moving the node around the XY pad, you'll see a value displayed under the "AGR" abbreviation (Adjusted Gain Reduction). This number takes into account the current Gain Reduction and Dry/Wet balance to give you a value for the compression intensity. For a good starting point, we recommend you aim for AGR levels between -10 and -20.

TWEAK PANEL:

IHNY-2 is meant to be as fast and intuitive as its predecessor. But if you need to go deeper, the Tweak Panel gives you full control over the compressor. Here, you’ll find a number of new features that weren’t included in V1.

Attack + Release: Sets how fast the compressor engages and disengages.

Ratio: Sets the compression intensity from mild to aggressive.

Punch: Heavy compression tends to suck the transients out of a signal. The Punch control works to emphasize attack transients in the compressed track, helping it cut through even at very high compression levels.

Harmonics: Imagine a saturator that behaves like a compressor – that’s Harmonics. This feature introduces harmonic saturation controlled by the gain-reduction, meaning more compressed parts get saturated harder.

Shape: Adds our custom ‘smiley EQ curve’ to bring out the lows and highs and make the compressed signal more present. (The smiley EQ curve is what sets “New York Compression” apart from regular parallel compression. IHNY-2 can do both).

Tilt: Makes the compressor work harder on either the low or high end of your signal – which can be useful for controlling bass heavy material and letting the high end breathe (or vice versa).

Lo + Hi Preserve: Prevents the low and high frequencies from being compressed above/below the cutoff points. This is a great way to preserve the kick while squashing the rest of your drum bus.

OTHER FEATURES:

- Oversampling: Run the plugin in 1x, 2x or 4x oversampling modes. (We recommend 1x for better CPU performance).
- Solo: Monitor the wet signal in solo. Useful for finetuning – or for using IHNY-2 as a regular insert compressor.
- Tooltips: Turn on to get explanations of each parameter as you use the plugin.
- Save As Default: Save your own default preset, which will load whenever you open a new instance of IHNY-2.
- Reset To Default: Reset the plugin to your default preset.
- Baby Audio Logo: Bypass the plugin.
- Resize Icon: Resize the plugin.

MOUSE CONTROLS:

- Cmd+Click: Slows down mouse movement in the Tweak Panel for finetuning purposes.
- Ctrl+Click on XY Pad Node: Horizontal movement only.
- Alt (Cmd) + Click on XY Pad Node: Vertical movement only.
- Double Click: Resets any parameter to its default value.

IHNY-2 comes with a range of new features to surgically tweak the compression behavior. But a compressor should not be judged on its features (or ability to run in parallel) as much as it should be judged on its sound. Let’s get into that.

Just like its predecessor, IHNY-2 offers its own, unique sonic signature: Its style of compression is clinical and aggressive, combining the precision of a digital algorithm with a touch of analog-inspired non-linearity. It can even go into full-on saturation mode as you apply the ‘Harmonics’ control.

The plugin is designed especially with modern genres in mind – i.e. optimized for loudness and impact, without a loss of clarity.

However, some of our inspiration actually goes back in time as well. Particularly to the affordable DBX units of the 80s and 90s. You can call them basic, but these compressors had a brutal and hard-hitting nature that their more sophisticated counterparts just couldn’t muster. They are loved and used for that to this day!

With IHNY-2 we had an ambition to take the “slammy” and “squashy” behavior of our favorite old hardware compressors even further – and make it an intentional feature rather than a byproduct of design limitations. At the same time we wanted an algorithm that didn’t destroy the signal, even at high compression levels (unlike cheaper hardware compressors).

We’re sure you’ll find that IHNY-2 sounds like none of your other plugins. It’s not designed for “smooth” work. But when you need some power, you’ll have a hard time finding a better companion. IHNY-2 is everything I Heart NY was – and so much more!

IHNY-2 comes loaded with 156 presets created by BABY Audio and friends of the house - including:

✱ Delbert Bowers (Lizzo, Taylor Swift, Bruno Mars, Shawn Mendes)

✱ Matt Sim (Nicki Minaj, The Chainsmokers, Gucci Mane)

✱ M-Phazes (Eminem, Madonna, Demi Lovato)

✱ Preston “Prizzie” Reid (Kanye West, Alicia Keys, Muni Long)

✱ Rob Kleiner (Cee Lo, SIA, David Guetta, Britney Spears)

✱ Plugin formats: VST, VST3, AU, AAX.

✱ Platforms supported: Mac OS 10.7 and up (including Native M1 Compatibility). PC Windows 7 and up.

✱ DAWs supported: All major DAWs, including Ableton Live, Pro Tools, Logic Pro, FL Studio, Cubase, Nuendo, Studio One, Bitwig, Reaper, Reason etc.