Nirvana Vocal Only Recording (Pitch Shifted)

I was listening to this vocal track that comes from the album “Nevermind”, and I noticed that there is some pitch shifting effect on the chorus. I’ve never noticed that effect until I listened to the vocals by themselves, without the music. Kind of sounds like there’s 2 or more vocal tracks with one track effected with a large amount of pitch shift. The effected vocals sound good with the music but I’m not loving the overly effected sound with the lone vocal track/ tracks.

Nice, warm sound compared to the sounds I get with my low end, large diaphragm condensers though.

Listen to the end of the song, when he starts singing higher in a really rough voice. It’s funny and seemingly amateur but I understand the punk, garage vibe that Nirvana sometimes tried to emulate.

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Using effects creatively can sometimes make a big difference between a poor performance and an acceptable one, or even a pioneering one. I think working with Nirvana is what put producer Butch Vig on the map, and Andy Wallace mixed it. They all just happened to be in the right place at the right time - it kicked off the “grunge” revolution.

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I don’t think there’s a pitch shifter on there. That sounds like it’s double tracked.

On the chorus you do hear that slight delay in the vocal that’s indicative of an automated double…It’s also very noticeable at the end of the song when he’s screaming/ singing, but it also sounds very warbly (most noticeable on the chorus), as if a pitch shift effect is being applied. It could be an automatic double only but I’ve never heard a vocal double sound that artificial from just using a delay/ double. Listen to the first verse and then notice how it differs from the chorus. Then in the second verse it sounds as though they pull back on the effect again (less effected), but it still has considerably more effect than the first verse. You might be right though. Maybe that’s just an automatic double/ delay.

I only got this info on vocal for Nirvana, but it looks like double tracking only…

You can tell at the end that it is doubling because the tails of the phrases are very different, and the doubling is purposely sloppy. The choruses are a bit more precise. It’s a cool production idea that adds an edge.

The song they’re talking about in that video is Smells Like Teen Spirit. The song I’m referring to is “Lounge Act” , the one I posted in the first post. I don’t hear the same warble effect in “Smells Like Teen Spirit” that I hear during the chorus of “Lounge Act”. I can hear the doubling effect on the vocal in both songs though. The doubling trick has always been an effective way of helping add thickness and shine to the vocal (and other instruments). You can even notice the doubled vocals when listening to the album (without the solo’ed vocals), but I didn’t notice that “warble” effect that you can hear on the “chorus” (not the verse or the end of the song) of Lounge Act when the vocals are mixed with the music.

Automated doubling often includes pitch shifting one or more tracks slightly and then shifting one or more tracks slightly behind (or ahead) of the other. I’m not certain if if was used in Lounge Act but there is certainly a weird warble going on (during the first chorus particularly) that I’ve never heard from just double tracking. That’s the kind of sound I’ve gotten when I included “pitch shift” into my doubled vocal tracks.

I’m not saying there is no doubler on there, but that effect can definitely come from just straight up double tracking vocals.

I agree, to a degree. :grin: Your statement is correct.

I’m not completely sold one way or the other, but I suspect there’s some pitch shift being applied on Lounge Act.