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Has anyone DES isolated this "typewriter" sound to learn if it is indeed a typewriter? There is a discussion going on elsewhere where people are claiming it is a tambourine or drumsticks or an actual typewriter that is heard in the background of the song. I hadn't noticed it before, but it sure sounds like a manual typewriter to me. Then the question becomes: Who is typing? Apparently all of the Beatles are occupied with their own instruments on the basic track, and this sound appears on the basic track. Mal Evans clacking away?

Just curious.

It's Ringo tapping to keep time because they had to leave a non-playing space of a specific length in the rhythm track where the reverbed vocals were going to be (or something) before the music kicks back in. You can hear the tapping all the way in the outtake.

There's no typewriter sound effect anywhere. Ignore those people you heard that from they are idiots.

There's a discussion going on about whether it's a typewriter?

Must remember never to visit that place!

The sound they're discussing aren't the timing clicks behind the aria of "paperback writer" singing. It's the off-time clicks heard at the end of the song, notably the more extended mono version.

Oh that part.

Yeah it's a typewriter specifically a 1964 Selectric borrowed from Judy Martin's desk.

Well, I thought it was interesting. I'd never heard that sound before, and the thought of a typewriter used as an effect in the song (even if mixed too far back to clearly hear) made sense.

That's the rim of the tambourine being struck. You can do three things with a tambourine, either shake it or strike the skin or strike the rim. During most of the song it is just being shaken, but towards the end some syncopated beats are thrown in by hitting the rim of it as it's being shook.

That's my explanation anyway. Just watch Davy Jones or Liam Gallagher for a visual demo.

Believe it or not tambourine is actually hard to play because you have to start swinging it before the beat.

Lord Reith wrote: ↑Fri May 12, 2023 10:41 am That's the rim of the tambourine being struck. You can do three things with a tambourine, either shake it or strike the skin or strike the rim. During most of the song it is just being shaken, but towards the end some syncopated beats are thrown in by hitting the rim of it as it's being shook.

That's my explanation anyway. Just watch Davy Jones or Liam Gallagher for a visual demo.

Professional percussionist acquaintances of mine also do thumb rolls, where they rub the thumb along the skin close to the rib, giving a subtly different effect to a shake