Baby Audio set out to make the most powerful compressor in the industry. The kind that makes your tracks beat and sing. To get this extra advantage, the IHNY-2 works in parallel. This allows you to compress more while maintaining the dynamics of your track.

• Designed for a modern, ultra-aggressive compression sound, perfect for adding power to your tracks

• Internally parallel sidechain for a fast and hassle-free parallel compression workflow

• Majorly updated V2 of Baby Audio's first plug-in (I Heart NY) – offering surgical control and a variety of new features

Mix more

Contemporary mixes need more punch. And to get maximum impact without killing a track's dynamics, engineers turn to parallel compression (a technique that combines a dry and a heavily compressed track). The IHNY-2 hosts a plug-and-play parallel setup so you don't need to configure any extra routing in your DAW.

The plugin is specifically designed to beat your tracks in parallel and will achieve more than your typical compressors. It's not subtle, but a dedicated tool for adding energy and “slap” to drums, mix bus or even master bus (if you dare!)

IHNY-2 is an evolution of Baby Audio's first plugin, I Heart NY. The original was a favorite of many users and was chosen for the SOS Awards by Sound On Sound Magazine. The V2 comes with new features, surgical control – and sound improvements.

Characteristics

IHNY-2 splits the input audio into two copies. One remains untouched by the plugin (Dry track), the other is subjected to all the advantages that the IHNY-2 has to offer (Wet track). You balance the two signals on the vertical axis of the XY pad, while setting the amount of Wet track compression on the horizontal axis. This allows you to operate the plugin's most important controls in just one movement.

The IHNY-2 has an automatic gain algorithm working, to provide consistent output as you move the node around the XY block.

As you move the node around the XY pad, you will see a value displayed under the abbreviation “AGR” (Adjusted Gain Reduction). This number takes into account current gain reduction and dry/wet balance to provide a value for compression intensity. For a good starting point, Baby Audio recommends that you aim for AGR levels between -10 and -20.

Adjust panel

The IHNY-2 should be as fast and intuitive as its predecessor. But if you need to dig deeper, Tweak Panel gives you full control over the compressor. Here, you will find several new features that were not included in V1.

Attack + Release: Defines how quickly the compressor acts.

Ratio: Sets the compression intensity from light to aggressive.

Punch: Heavy compression tends to compress the transients 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 gain reduction, meaning that the most compressed parts are saturated more strongly.

Shape: Adds custom 'smiling EQ curve' to enhance bass and treble and make compressed signal more present. (The smiling 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 the lows or highs of your signal – which can be useful for controlling bass-heavy stuff and letting the highs breathe (or vice versa).

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

Other features

• Oversampling: Run the plugin in 1x, 2x or 4x oversampling modes. (1x recommended for best CPU performance).
• Solo: Monitor the signal processed on the ground. Useful for fine tuning – or for using the IHNY-2 as a regular insert compressor.
• Tooltips: Enable for explanations of each parameter as you use the plugin.
• Save as default: Save your own preset as default, which will be loaded whenever you open a new instance of IHNY-2 .
• Resize icon: Resize the plugin.

It's all about the sound

The IHNY-2 comes with a series of new features to surgically adjust compression behavior. But a compressor shouldn't be judged by its features (or ability to run in parallel) as much as it should be judged by its sound. Let's get into it.

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

The plugin was specially designed with modern genres in mind – i.e. optimized for volume and impact, without loss of clarity.

However, some of Baby Audio 's inspirations also go back in time. Particularly for the affordable DBX units of the 80s and 90s. You might call them basic, but these compressors had a brutal, hard-hitting nature that their higher-end counterparts simply couldn't muster. They are loved and used for this to this day!

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

Baby Audio is confident that you will find that the IHNY-2 sounds like none of their other plugins. It is not designed for “soft” work. But when you need some energy, you'll be hard-pressed to find a better companion. IHNY-2 is everything I Heart NY was – and more!

Presets

The IHNY-2 comes loaded with 156 presets created by BABY Audio – 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)