OTT is a multi-band compressor made by Xfer. It was originally a preset in Ableton Live which became so popular the company Xfer made a plug in which is downloadable for free.
The best thing about this plug in is that it is so easy to use, and even easier to make it sound good. The simple interface means there is very little chance of being confused at what it does, yet it can be used in many different ways. I use OTT in almost every project. In my electronic productions I will use it on certain individual tracks – especially saw waves – to give the sound more punch. I also tend to use it on my master chain VERY SUBTLY in order bring out some excitement in the track and to also glue it together a bit better.
↑↑↑This is what a section from my sample flip (read about it here) sounds like with no OTT in the master↑↑↑
↑↑↑This is what the same section sounds like with SUBTLE OTT. It is slightly brighter, and it is glued together a little bit more adding some excitement.↑↑↑
In my Friday videos (read about them here) I used OTT as a volume control for the drum kit. As I recorded drums with just one microphone, the simple 3 frequency ranged compression worked really well to control volume of the kick (low), snare (mid) and hats/ride (high). This gave me a lot of control to balance the kit which normally would be quite difficult.
The danger of OTT is that – like any audio enhancing plug in – it needs to be used in moderation. I have fallen into the trap of adding OTT to absolutely everything because I thought it would just make it sound good, however that is not the case. It is a great free plug in when used sparingly, however if it isn’t used subtly it can destroy audio.
As you can hear, it absolutely destroys the audio making it sound horrendous. That is why you need to be sparing with it. I only ever tend to use around about 12-30% wet depending on the style and timbre of the track.
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