Aerial vehicles may include propulsion units having motors with drive shafts that may be aligned at a variety of orientations, propellers with variable pitch blades, and common operators for aligningthe drive shafts at one or more orientations and for varying the pitch angles of the blades. The common operators may include plate elements to which a propeller hub is rotatably joined, and which maybe supported by one or more linear actuators that may extend or retract to vary both the orientations of the drive shafts and the pitch angles of the blades. Operating the motors and propellers at varying speeds, gimbal angles or pitch angles enables the motors to generate forces in any number of directions and at any magnitudes. Attributes of the propulsion units may be selected in order to shape or control the noise generated thereby.