This is a recording of an office paper shredder starting up. This model of paper shredder has a button that you can press to run it briefly in reverse, in order to clear paper jams and clean the blades. If the shredder hasn't been used in a while, it takes several seconds to start, and makes a cool noise while doing so. The click at the start of the recording is the switch being pressed. You then hear the motor struggling to start up for about five seconds, and finally it comes up to speed. The high-frequency crackling you hear, particularly once the motor is running smoothly, comes from bits of paper still rolling around in the blades (easy to convert into a campfire or rain). There's another click at the end when the reverse button is released. I uploaded this because several parts of the recording sounded like they'd lend themselves to morphing in various ways to create other interesting noises. Recorded with a hand-held zoom h4n, stereo 96 khz / 24 bits, with the built-in mics, positioned about six inches above the rotating blades of the shredder.
Author: Mxsmanic