The Remarkable Power Of Eddie Vedder's Voice As Heard Through Isolated Vocal Tracks

Jun 27, 2020

Eddie Vedder is the lead vocalist for the American band Pearl Jam, and jam on he does. With sweeping vocal performances across the entire country throughout multiple venues and open-air concerts, he has created music that has inspired a generation. A group known as NetMusic has managed to highlight just how powerful Vedder's voice is by isolating his live vocals in a 2013 video.

There have been several isolated vocal tracks done in the studio for a few of Pearl Jam’s songs such as Black and Alive. These vocal-only tracks are then matched with live performances. With careful planning and a skillful eye for syncing, NetMusic has kept to their standard of quality and has been able to highlight the true power of Eddie Vedder's well-trained voice.

This synchronization match-up has been done for other bands before; one of the most notable examples is the Beach Boys' Wouldn't It Be Nice. Sometimes people think that the results are a bit disconcerting, but this hasn’t stopped fans of Eddie Vedder from experiencing a more “pure” version of his musical range. Quickly, even the haters are won over by simple exposure to the usefulness of vocal isolation.

Eddie Vedder’s signature, casual style is well highlighted in his live performances. He wears an earth-tone t-shirt, baggy practical cargo shorts, work boots, and a few meaningful wrist wraps. With loose hair flowing in the breeze, he approaches the microphone. There isn’t anything else but to give the horizon-spanning audience exactly what they came for.

Expressive as always, Eddie Vedder quickly begins using his hands to illustrate the story in the song Alive. His amazing vocals are the only thing present in the entire soundtrack of the video. Eventually, he cups the microphone into his hands and leans into the refrain. The jubilant crowd, complete with crowd surfers, smoke, and beach balls, shouts into the noiseless void while the guitarist shreds away. All is lost but the raw strength of Eddie’s stage presence.

Eddie points to members of the crowd, making intense eye contact with each fan his index finger selects. He times the vocals with the movements as perfectly as NetMusic has timed the lyrical overlay with the live performance.

The expressive way Eddie Vedder begins to jump around the stage shows that the show is reaching its climax moment; he’s dragging the microphone around the performance area before ripping it free from its stand. It isn’t long before Eddie is banging his rock-grunge hairdo up and down. Fans are quick to mimic the movement, and those who are in the front row getting rocked by the speakers show off their performances.

It clearly took a lot of time to match up the studio’s isolated vocals with Eddie’s great and friendly stage performances, but when compared with how much work Eddie has put into his vocal range training, it might just all be worth it.

Seeing the drummer bang and clang on his instrument and not have any sound coming from them is both eerie and amazing to experience. This is especially so when he hits the cymbals so hard that they wobble at a neat 180 degrees! The included guitar solo adds a bit of familiarity to the scene if only for a moment through the single instrument screeching out loud its unforgettable notes.

Do you or any of your friends have the vocal range of Eddie Vedder? What do you think about the trend of isolating vocals so that people can hear the real power behind a singer's voice? Let us know your thoughts and opinions and pass this incredible video on to fellow music fans.