typewriter-olivetti-lettra-22.wav

A recording of a manual typewriter. The author is inserting paper, typing a paragraph, and then removing the paper.

Sound of paper being inserted into the typewriter using the paper platen winder. Then the sound of typing of about 50 words. A small bell sound is heard at the end of each line, then the sound of the platen being pushed back to start the next line, and the platen moving the paper up one line. The sample ends with the sound of the paper being wound through the typewriter and removed.

I have tried to avoid clipping of each typed letter. There is a lot of percussive multi pitch sound in each typed letter. There is a mechanical escapement that provides a clicking sound as the platen is moved back for the next line.

This sample was recorded direct to the hard drive of this Samsung NC10 netbook using Audacity set to 44.1KHz and 16 bit in mono. A dynamic microphone was used on a small desk stand about 1 foot (30cm) from the typewriter, the stand being on a different table to the one on which the typewriter was used. The microphone was a fairly cheap make (Hitachi HMP606) and was pre-amplified using a Maycom MicTube preamplifier built into the xlr connector, connected to the mic in port of the Samsung NC10 netbook. The mic boost was reduced to zero, and the gain of the Maycom preamp was at its lowest setting.