One problem that beginner audio students, and hobbyist often run into is making their chorus pop. Master audio technicians have conquered this challenge, and that’s why the hook you hear on the radio is super catchy. The chorus is called a hook for a reason it has to catch the listener.
I’ll start with the most old-school and simple technique to making your chorus pop. Put plainly, it is your volume control. If you mix your chorus slightly louder than the verse, you will surely get a pop. Remember, when it comes to any effects, especially volume, it is best to work in infinitesimal gradations.
The volume will make your chorus stand out, but there are better ways to go about accomplishing this. Equalization is a handy tool. I’m sure there are thousands of tips for using the EQ, and I’m going to cover the four most effective and most common.
By cutting the supreme lows of a bass track during the verse it can have an awesome effect of your mix. For starters, it will make your verse sound more intimate, and slightly more narrow. When your chorus rolls around and all of those supreme low frequencies enter the mix your listener will know that this is what they’ve been waiting for. The full, rich, and thumping chorus will have your listeners hooked.
Boosting the highs of a vocal track will give your vocals a great sound, and it will open up the natural tonal qualities of the human voice. It will also give your vocals the pop they need to make the chorus stand out. There are a lot of ways to EQ vocals for certain effects, but slightly boosting the highs is a sure fire way to make your hook catch them.
Effectively using double tracks is a great way to add volume but it can be used for more than that. A verse is often centralized and narrow as I’ve mentioned before, but by doubling tracks and spreading them you can make the sound boom. Of course, you probably don’t want doubled tracks during the verse, but it’s great to apply a double track during the chorus. I do this a lot when I record a piano track. I’ll usually roll with a single track during the verse, but as soon as the chorus comes, assuming the piano is a main instrument, I double it and pan the double opposite of the original. This mirror effect is a great way to boost the chorus, but that’s not all when it comes to double tracks.
A pitch shifter is what we all know as auto-tune. Hooray for the talentless musician who overdoes it, but shifting pitch on a track is actually a really unique thing to work with if it is used in moderation. When the chorus hits it is useful to take a vocal track, and pan it off center. From there if you add a pitch shifter, you can obviously tune the sound, but more importantly the pitch shifter allows you to shift the pitch high or low. By shifting the pitch lower than the original you still get the added volume, but the vocal now fills a larger range. This doubled, and shifted track and be pretty much buried in the mix, but the effect will be subtly life changing if you will.
What are your tips for making the chorus pop?