Chorus is an effect which uses a low frequency oscillator, or LFO, to modulate the pitch and timing of audio. By evolving these parameters in real time, it gives the impression of unique instances of that audio, creating natural width in a track as opposed to simply duplicating it and creating a carbon copy which would only boost it by six decibels. It’s primarily used for its trademark lush and evolving sound, not to mention some of the aforementioned width, so let’s cover the best chorus settings to achieve that classic chorus sound to apply to vocals, guitar, or any other instruments of your choice in your mix.
The Best Chorus Settings
Most chorus plugins utilize two major parameters to drive the effect and affect the pitch and timing of the audio you’re applying it to.
Chorus Depth
The chorus depth dictates the range of the pitch and timing the chorus effect will cover, determining just how dissimilar it will become relative to the “dry” audio’s pitch and timing.
Chorus depth is measured in milliseconds, and the lower/faster you set this, the less range the chorus effect will be covered.
I typically like a somewhat higher/slower chorus depth of a few milliseconds, so try starting out setting this somewhere between 4 and 5 milliseconds.
This is in contrast to setting this too low and fast so that there’s little to no changes in the pitch and timing, relative to the dry audio, making those “duplicates” created by the chorus sound more narrow and less noticeable.
Chorus Rate
The chorus rate determines the speed at which the transitions between these ranges occurs. Measured in Hz of typically a fraction of a Hz to a few Hz (hence the LOW in low frequency oscillator), the lower you set this, the slower these transitions occur.
I like to set a slow rate in that sub 1Hz range. Try setting this around .4Hz for a start as this pairs nicely with the aforementioned 4-5ms depth to create that classic chorus sound.
If you speed this up and instead go above 1Hz and beyond, you’ll hear clear break points as the effect begins to sound choppy and robotic. While this can have its use on occasion, it’s not the rate you want for what we consider to be the classic chorus sound.
Best Chorus Settings for the Classic Chorus Sound
Using my favorite and vote for best chorus plugin, the Jun-6 Chorus from Arturia, I’ve illustrated what the best chorus settings combo looks like:
Note that the Jun-6 (modeled after the Roland Juno-60 synthesizer’s “chorus” effect) also includes a “Phase” parameter which is just that – the phase alignment of the chorus “duplicate” audio relative to the original dry audio. I like to set this to the max of 180 degrees to shift the timing fully and make it as dissimilar as possible to give the chorus the most size.
Also note that if we were simply duplicating a track and offsetting the duplicate’s phase by 180 degrees, it would result in phase cancellation and nullify the original, creating silence as the peaks and troughs of the wave forms worked against on another.
In getting back to the best chorus settings, combining a slow rate of .4Hz with a depth of 4-5ms creates that lush, evolving sound that we associated with the chorus effect.
Incidentally, this is very close to the sound of the “Mode 1” button on Jun-6, which brings in that lovely analog warm lushness to any track you apply it to.
The only decision to be made after you’ve dialed in these settings is how much of the effect you want to hear relative to the dry audio.
As always, if you’re using your chorus plugin (or any plugin) as a send, placing it on an aux/return track, set the Mix or Wet/Dry to 100% because the send respective send dials for any tracks you’re using the effect on are acting as the blend amount in that case.
Conversely, if you’re only using the chorus effect on one track, you’d just drop it in the signal chain for that specific track as an insert, then obviously create the blend amount you want via that Mix or Wet/Dry dial on the plugin itself.
Using less of this chorus effect (with these specific settings) will just blend in a little width. The more you turn this up, the more you’ll actively hear the effect at work as it’s actively evolving.
In terms of what to use it on, I love it on guitar and vocals in particular for adding some subtle width and automation to give them a little life.
Check out my many tutorials on chorus here on Music Guy Mixing for instrument specific tips on how to use it in your next mix.
