Twenty Thousand Hertz

The stories behind the world’s most recognizable and interesting sounds. Hosted by Sound Designer Dallas Taylor, Twenty Thousand Hertz unlocks the stories, secrets and science behind what you hear. Whether you’re a professional audio engineer with decades of experience, a fourth grader who loves sound and music, or anyone in between, you’ll find something to love: the sound design secrets of hit movies, the forgotten backstories of classic theme songs, the sonic craft of jingles and device sounds, linguistic mysteries, psychoacoustics, video game music, animal communication, and beyond. With moving human stories, immersive sound design, and non-stop ear candy, 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
76
Synth Showdown: Digital vs. Analog
A new foe has appeared!
22 min
77
Synth Showdown: Moog vs. Buchla
Round one. Fight!
23 min
78
A Thousand Words: Audio description for all!
Do you see what I hear?
27 min
79
The Booj Strikes Back: Why all modern trailers ...
How to turn your trailers up to 11.
24 min
80
The weird, wild world of 1-900 numbers
The rise and fall of 900 numbers.
34 min
81
Tokyo Rose: World War II’s most controversial r...
How a Japanese-American radio host became one of the most despised voices of World War II.
24 min
82
TikTalk: The woman who sued TikTok for using he...
Meet the voices of TikTok.
28 min
83
The sonic secrets behind Ted Lasso
The winning sound design behind Ted Lasso.
30 min
84
Sonic Happiness: A guide to feeling better thro...
Practical tips for making your world sound better so that you feel better.
42 min
85
Shock Horror A: The origin of the dramatic “Dun...
Dun dun duuun!
27 min
86
Sleight of Ear: Behind the scenes w/ Dallas Taylor
Dallas reveals the tricks of the trade.
24 min
87
Breathe: My Unexpected Journey
A story from Dallas’ former life.
32 min
88
Relearning Boléro: How our brains rewrite the s...
Can we really trust our ears?
38 min
89
Ghosts in the Hit Machine: The secrets of music...
Inside the secretive world of ghostwriting and ghost producing.
27 min
90
Why Windows Got Rid of Startup Sounds
The death and rebirth of the Windows startup sound.
31 min
91
Ta-da! The history of Windows’ classic startup ...
Start me up.
26 min
92
The Waterphone: Hollywood’s spookiest sound effect
The sound that haunts Hollywood.
24 min
93
Mind the Gap: NYC & London’s iconic transit voices
Stand clear of the closing doors, please.
32 min
94
Hidden Hitmakers: The unsung heroes behind pop’...
Who writes the hits for the pop stars?
30 min
95
Happy Little Episode: The soothing voice of Bob...
How a soft-spoken, poofy-haired painter changed the world, one gentle word at a time.
41 min
96
Pirate Radio: Britain’s AM rebels of the ’60s
How a group of scrappy radio pirates changed the course of music history.
33 min
97
Being Dallas Taylor: Meeting my name twins
What’s in a name?
40 min
98
Sul Sul! Behind the gibberish language of The Sims
The secrets of Simlish, the gibberish language of The Sims.
25 min
99
Guess That Sound 2021: Underunderstood
The hosts of Underunderstood go head to head in our annual Mystery Sound game.
37 min
100
The Static Angel: How HBO perfected its sonic i...
How HBO reconciled its analog past with its digital future.
25 min