Repartee wrote:

Regarding pads and sound absorption and acoustics, I wonder are you doing this because you are disturbing someone else or because the noise is disturbing to you?

If it's the latter then I would give yourself some more time with the machine.  I've grown to love the sound of some fairly noisy machines - fortunately I am not disturbing anybody else and it just sounds like work being done! The only style of sound I dislike is one that is both high pitched and loud - all slap and no chunk.

I don't recall a typewriter whose sound I disliked.  I've noticed some, like you said, have a bit higher a pitch in their hammering sound, while others, have a nice bottom quality--a more robust sound.  Underwood 150 and Touch-Master II machines have this sound.  You can not only hear it, you can feel it.  That's why so many people love their Underwood typewriters.  Olympias, now, have a high and a low at the same time.  While they have a nice bottoming sound to them you can feel, they also have a ring to the keystrike  as well.  I even like the little tinny clink-a-te-clink of my little "new" 1974 Brother Activator 800T (yes, it actually has a tabulator, this pocket-size miracle.  Only the stops are ten spaces apart, so I set the margins where I can get a five-space paragraph setting. 
 

TypewriterKing wrote:

 I even like the little tinny clink-a-te-clink of my little "new" 1974 Brother Activator 800T

I had forgotten the clink-a-te-clink variant. Before I had achieved typewriter gridlock with no work area (I just read in an old repair manual that a cluttered shop is no good. How was I have to have reached this subtle conclusion without seeing it written down?) I "repaired" a Holland made Royalite whose innards were loose in the shell.  They seem to have been attached by screws passing through grommets, but having no grommets I cleverly built up stacks of flat washers to fill the space. And was I pleased with myself.

It's rock-steady, that Royalite, but now each keystroke makes a tiny metallic ting so typing sounds like the anvil chorus.   

Uwe, thanks so much. I completely forgot about using felt pads between the table and wooden floor. 

This has made all the difference! 

???

Self-adhesive felt pads for furniture are far easier to find than a typewriter, and they even have them in Japan.

 

Has anyone else tuned up their typewriter to adjust the typing action? I have pretty strong likes and dislikes with regard to the action of my typewriters. I don't like the heavy action of my Olympia SM9, where I need to press deep to get a clear imprint, but rather like the Adler Tippa's heavy but shallow action. My favorite among the portables, however, is the Olivetti Studio 42 (which resembles later models too). I've muddled with the screws under the escapement to have it trip just after the type slug makes contact with the paper. There are some typewriters where I'd love to be able to fine tune like that . . . like my 1960s Hermes 3000. Does anyone have experience adjusting the action of that model? Or have tips for others, like the Hermes Baby, Royal FP, etc? These are the modifications that make a big difference for me . . . backing sheets, soundproofing, mats, etc, are secondary to the typing action.
-Eric