INT-Tidy
Finds the frequencies that stick out and lowers only those, only while they last. One control.
Hear it
Before and after
The same take, with and without the plugin. Switch between them while it plays: nothing cuts and you do not lose your place.
It is a generated test voice, not a recording: that way you hear exactly what the plugin does and nothing else.
What it looks like
What it looks like
How to use it, in a minute
What it does
Almost every home recording has a note or a hum that jumps out over the rest. INT-Tidy finds those and lowers only them, only while they last.
Why an EQ isn't enough
An EQ always cuts the same spot, whether the problem is there or not. INT-Tidy compares each band against its neighbours and acts only when one stands out.
Where to put it
In a mixer slot, on the track that bothers you. It works on voices, guitars, cymbals and room recordings.
One control is enough
Amount is how much it cleans. Start at 100 % and lower it if the sound gets dull. At 0 nothing is touched.
The drawing shows the work
Up top is what's coming in, band by band, bass on the left and treble on the right. The dotted line is what the plug-in expects there. Where the shape pokes above the line, a bar grows below: that's the cut.
What it does, in one sentence
Almost every home recording has a resonance: a guitar note that rings twice as loud as the rest, a hum from the room, an "s" that drills into your ear. INT-Tidy finds them and lowers them, and when they stop being a problem it stops working.
Why an EQ isn't enough
An EQ always cuts in the same place, whether the problem is there or not. Drop 6 dB at 3 kHz to tame a harsh "s" and you're also dropping 6 dB off everything else that passes through, all the time, and the vocal ends up dull.
INT-Tidy looks at the sound across 16 frequency bands and compares each one against its neighbours. Music spreads energy fairly evenly across nearby bands; the one that stands well above that average is a resonance. Only that one gets lowered, and only while it lasts.
Where to put it
It's an effect: it goes in a mixer slot, on the track that bothers you.
It works on vocals, acoustic guitars, cymbals and anything recorded in a room that isn't a studio. Put it before your compressor, so the compressor doesn't react to the resonance.
The only control you need
Amount: how much it cleans.
| Value | What happens |
|---|---|
| 0 % | The audio comes out exactly as it went in. Off means off. |
| 50 % | Corrects half of it. Softens without removing character. |
| 100 % | Cleans everything it finds. This is where it starts. |
Start at 100 % and listen. If the sound goes dull or loses sparkle, bring it down until it comes back.
The drawing
The drawing is split in two, and you read it top to bottom. Both halves work the same way: bass on the left, treble on the right, across 16 bands.
Up top: what's coming in. The grey shape is your sound, band by band. The dotted line is what the plug-in expects to find there, roughly the average of the neighbouring bands. Wherever the shape pokes above the line, that piece is tinted in the plug-in's colour: that's what is sticking out.
Below: what it cuts. The bars grow downwards from the top, showing how much each band is being lowered.
And the only relationship to look at is the vertical one: what pokes out up top is the bar that appears below, in the same column. That's the answer to "why is it cutting there?".
Two things you can now see and couldn't before:
- If the shape hugs the line and there are no bars, your sound was already clean. The drawing isn't broken: there's nothing to fix.
- **With *Bypass* pressed, the bars disappear but the tint still marks what sticks out.** So you can see what it would cut *before* letting it cut.
And if you move Threshold, you'll see the dotted line rise or fall. It's the fastest way to understand that control: raising it raises the line, and everything below stops being touched.
More options
Depth: the deepest cut it may apply to a single band. Deeper cleans more, but overdo it and the sound gets hollow. 12 dB is comfortable.
Speed: how fast it reacts. Low (10-40 ms) catches short resonances, like an "s". High (150-300 ms) sounds gentler and suits hums that are there all the time.
Threshold: how far a band must stand out before it counts as a problem. Lower = cleans more. Too low and it starts correcting things that weren't a problem, and the sound goes dull. Higher and it only acts on the obvious.
Tips
- Acoustic guitar with a booming note: Speed at 150 ms, Threshold at 3 dB.
- Vocal with harsh "s" sounds: Speed at 20 ms. If you need more, raise Depth before lowering Threshold.
- Recorded in a small room: Threshold at 3 dB and Depth at 18 dB.
- Together with INT-Even: INT-Tidy first, INT-Even after. Clean, then even out: it works better than the other way round.
Download
Get it with the pack
The six plugins come in a single installer, and you can untick the ones you do not want.
Download the packVersion 0.9.1 · 9.4 MB · Windows 10 or 11, 64-bit
FAQ
If something isn't working
It doesn't show up in my DAW.
Rescan your plugins. Look for "INT-Tidy" in the effects list.
No bars are moving.
Look at the top half: if the shape hugs the dotted line, your sound is already clean and there's nothing for the plug-in to do. If the shape has a bump that almost reaches the line, lower Threshold: you'll see the line come down, and the moment it passes under the bump, a bar appears below.
The sound went dull.
Lower Amount, or raise Threshold so it's less intrusive.
I hear clicks.
Raise Speed: it's reacting too fast for that material.