processing verse, chorus, bridge each differently

[charles kasler]

I want to do better in treating verse, chorus and bridge each differently. What's the most efficient way to do this in cakewalk? Automation seems tedious and only one parameter at a time. At this point, I'm putting each one on a separate track, chorus on one track, bridge on another but I'm not sure that's the most efficient. Any suggestions are welcome. Thank you!

[John Vere]

So what is important is exactly what do you have in mind that would be different? 
Generally the way this is done is simply adding or subtracting parts. Example a crunchy guitar only plays during chorus. 
You don’t want to use volume change for important tracks like vocals or bass. 
The drums have always been used to add more or less energy during a song. 
I can’t see why you would bother chopping up a song like that other than applying different effects at different points. But this is why we use automation which gives you all the options during mixing to make changes. 
The automation can be as simple as using bypass to take an effect in and out during the song. 

So my usual method 

Use instrumentation to add different sounds at different points. bring them in and out. Only fill between vocal phrases. 
I call this ear candy. I need the vocals recorded so I can accomplish this properly. 

Drums. Use subtle velocity changes to snare and hi hat / ride and even ride bell. Change the kick pattern. 

Vocals. Add harmonies to chorus or middle 8. 
Decrease delay/ reverb for verse. 
Guitar 
Change guitar pick ups or add more drive for chorus and solos. Change effects. 

All this is easy to do track by track with out splitting it up. Actually it’s nice when there’s overlap so it’s not that obvious. 

Edited November 6, 2023 by John Vere

[David Baay]

Another option is to split the clip and use Clip FX to apply different treatments within the same track.

https://legacy.cakewalk.com/Documentation?product=Cakewalk&language=3&help=Mixing.30.html

 

[OutrageProductions]

@John Vere; to me, it appears as though the OP is possibly attempting to operate on a mixed track, and lacks the patience or skill set to understand and use automation, as in applying different EQ, Compression, or other tools. Which, of course, also apply to individual stems as well.

[charles kasler]

Thanks for the help. I need to read up more on automation I never got anywhere with snapshots & it seems tedious to add the same clip fx to each chorus for example. I don't think there is a way to send individual clips to a bus, or is there? 

[OutrageProductions]

2 minutes ago, charles kasler said:

I don't think there is a way to send individual clips to a bus, or is there? 

Yes, there is... using automation on the send control.

[Byron Dickens]

All this is covered in the documentation....

[msmcleod]

If you don't want to separate out your tracks, another way of doing this, is to put all of your processing in separate sets of verse/chorus buses.

You can then automate the bus sends for each track to send to the appropriate bus for when it's a verse or chorus.