Clairo "4ever" Serum Tutorial & Breakdown

We are back with another tutorial, and this one was amazing to make. When we think of bedroom pop and dream pop royalty, the first name that comes to mind is Clairo. She is known for mixing intimate vocals with a daydreamy atmosphere, creating some of the most stylized, melody-driven songs around. She became popular with "Pretty Girl", which she made in her bedroom. After a few more songs, she made her debut album with Rostam Batmanglij, a former member of Vampire Weekend, and the rest is history: she has toured with Dua Lipa, entered the Billboard Hot 100, and played Lollapalooza and Coachella. Below you'll find the two-layer chords, two basses, the brass and the lead from "4ever", with audio and settings for each. Let's get started.

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The Chords

To make these chords work, we needed two layers: one that gives us a little shimmer and treble, and another that gives the patch body and warmth. Let's start with the first one.

Layer 1: Shimmer

I recreated this layer using an FM_Splat in oscillator "A" with the wavetable position at 12, which is where the patch gets its distinct shimmer and brightness. In oscillator "B" we have a Prime wavetable, which gives the sound a little more body without losing the higher frequencies. Envelope 2 is modulating the filter cutoff, and its decay should be slow so the filter closes gradually, giving a more organic feel. LFO 1 and LFO 2 are modulating the fine-tuning of the oscillators, giving them a more analog feel.

Layer 2: Warmth

This layer gives the chords all their warmth. First, we need a Basic Shape in its third position on both oscillators. Oscillator "B" needs frequency modulation coming from oscillator "A", which adds a little more color and harmonics to the sound. To get even more of that analog feel, we detune the oscillators slightly by using an LFO to modulate the semitone tuning on both.

The Verse Bass

This bass gives the track all its movement and groove. The patch is quite simple, but no less important. We used an ICanHasKick in oscillator "A". This wavetable has a lot of high harmonics, which is why we chose it: when it applies FM to oscillator "B", it gives the sound a lot more body. Oscillator "B" is a Sine wave with that FM, and the final touch is envelope 2 modulating the cutoff and resonance of the filter.

The Intro Bass

This bass appears at the beginning of the song and in the middle of the chorus. To be honest, it's quite funky and shouldn't work with the vibe of the song, but it totally does. In oscillator "A" we need a Sweep20 with quite a bit of FM coming from oscillator "B", which has a Basic Shape wavetable in its second position, bent all the way. This characteristic bass can't be done without high resonance in the filter and envelope 2 closing the filter a little faster.

The Brass

This brass sound enters in the second verse. It's quite subtle, but it makes a real difference because it accents some of the bass notes, giving the track a little more groove. To make a brass-type sound, you need an attack between 50 and 100 ms. After that, the wavetables you choose are what give the sound the vibe you're going for. We used two very basic wavetables in our oscillators, then routed envelope 1 to the filter, and that's it.

The Lead

Clairo keeps the surprises coming: as the song is about to hit its last chorus, she adds another funk element with this amazing lead, a counter melody to the vocals that just sounds perfect. We used a Basic Mini in its first position in oscillator "A" and a Sweep20 in oscillator "B". The trick to the vibrato is that LFO 1 and LFO 2 are routed to the fine-tuning of both oscillators, and envelope 3 increases the amount over time, as you can see in the images below.

Go to the Matrix tab and, as the aux source, add the envelope you want to use to increase the vibrato slowly.

Make your own 4ever-style track.

You've heard how the two-layer chords, the verse and intro basses, the brass and the lead are built. The Bedroom Pop Pack has sounds like these ready to load in Serum, along with the rest of its 125+ presets.

Want the whole palette? The Indie Pop Bundle adds our Indie Pop and Dreampop packs: three packs for $39.90.