How do they actually layer vocals in pop choruses?

[p4ris]

In pop choruses, when you got like two or more vocal tracks going on (think Carly Rae Jepsen's "Call Me Maybe"), what's the deal? Do they just pan them hard left and right, or do they keep them both center but mess with the timing a bit, like one slightly delayed left and the other right? There might even be a third track snuck in the middle of that song, but it's kinda tough to say for sure.

 

[Weird Buffalo]

Three vocals: center, left, and right. You can also go with two tracks, one unpanned and one doubled with something like Soundtoys MicroShift classic stereo widening plugin to get a thicker sound like it's two different takes. Lots of folks do that these days, but I still dig the three-take approach myself and this is done by recording separate vocal audio tracks one after another.