Twenty Thousand Hertz

The stories behind the world's most recognizable and interesting sounds.

Whether you're a professional audio engineer with decades of experience, a fourth grader who loves sound and music, or anyone in between, Twenty Thousand Hertz will help unlock your sonic world… from the sound design secrets of hit movies, to the sonic craft of jingles and device sounds, to the forgotten backstories of classic theme songs, to linguistic mysteries, psychoacoustics, video game music, animal communication, and beyond. With moving human stories, immersive sound design, and the guiding voice of host Dallas Taylor, Twenty Thousand Hertz has grown into the world’s leading podcast about sound.


New to the show? Start here:

• I'm Lovin' It: How “Ba da ba ba ba” took over the world

• The Art of Foley: Bringing Slimer & Batman to life

• Tudum! The story behind the iconic Netflix sound

• The Legend of Zelda: A Beep to the Past

• Inside Hans Zimmer’s Remote Control Studios

• A sonic journey through the Solar System

• Mind the Gap: NYC & London’s iconic transit voices

Design
Arts
Music Commentary
51
The Dark History of Nursery Rhymes
Once you listen, you’ll never hear nursery rhymes the same way again.
41 min
52
Sounds of the Deep: Mysteries and threats benea...
The mysteries of aquatic sound, and the fight against underwater noise pollution.
22 min
53
Boom Bling: TikTok's sonic guerrilla marketing
The dog bark was a mistake.
20 min
54
Mixing Seth Meyers: Behind the sound of late ni...
Mixing Seth Meyers
24 min
55
Untranslatable Words: Guess That Meaning!
Je ne say what?
26 min
56
Inside Hans Zimmer’s Remote Control Studios
Bringing an alien world to life through sound.
44 min
57
Hidden Sounds of America: NYC Hum & Underground...
You’ve gotta hear it to believe it.
25 min
58
All About That Bass: How pop became obsessed wi...
It’s time to bass the music.
24 min
59
Industrial Musicals: The Golden Age of corporat...
A hidden world of showbiz…
28 min
60
Into the Huluverse: The sonic evolution of Hulu
Take Me There.
23 min
61
Welcome to Twenty Thousand Hertz
A lovingly-crafted podcast about the amazing world of sound.
2 min
62
Guess That Sound 2023: Tournament of Champions
Simply ear-resistible.
43 min
63
Tune Tech: Distortion, sequencers, Auto-Tune, a...
Tech on me.
25 min
64
Headphone Handbook: How to pick your perfect pair
Check your head(phones).
23 min
65
Sounds That Sell: How companies entice us with ...
How brands use sound to make the invisible visible.
20 min
66
Auto-Tone: What will cars sound like in the fut...
AVAS, ye matey.
22 min
67
Wilhelm Screamix: The sound effect that never dies
aaAAAAgghh!
19 min
68
Subtitles On: Why is movie dialogue so hard to ...
We'll fix it in post.
27 min
69
Gremlins, War Rigs, & Star Trek Punks
Sandworms and gremlins and bees, oh my!
23 min
70
Do you talk to yourself in your head? (Not ever...
Where is your mind?
25 min
71
The Legend of Zelda: Tones of the Kingdom
Hey! Listen!
28 min
72
The Legend of Zelda: A Beep to the Past
It's dangerous to groove alone.
21 min
73
From Vinyl to Streaming: How music formats shap...
New format, who dis?
28 min
74
The secret history of “Take Me Out to the Ball ...
Just to cheer up the boys she knew, she made the gang sing this song…
31 min
75
Vocal Stratosphere: The world’s most extreme si...
You have to sound bad in order to sound good.
34 min