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
76
Recalculating: The surprising lives of GPS voices
Head South.
29 min
77
Guess That Sound 2022: Endless Thread
Stop, hey, what’s that sound?
50 min
78
Synth Showdown: Digital vs. Analog
A new foe has appeared!
22 min
79
Synth Showdown: Moog vs. Buchla
Round one. Fight!
23 min
80
A Thousand Words: Audio description for all!
Do you see what I hear?
27 min
81
The Booj Strikes Back: Why all modern trailers ...
How to turn your trailers up to 11.
24 min
82
The weird, wild world of 1-900 numbers
The rise and fall of 900 numbers.
34 min
83
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
84
TikTalk: The woman who sued TikTok for using he...
Meet the voices of TikTok.
28 min
85
The sonic secrets behind Ted Lasso
The winning sound design behind Ted Lasso.
30 min
86
Sonic Happiness: A guide to feeling better thro...
Practical tips for making your world sound better so that you feel better.
42 min
87
Shock Horror A: The origin of the dramatic “Dun...
Dun dun duuun!
27 min
88
Sleight of Ear: Behind the scenes w/ Dallas Taylor
Dallas reveals the tricks of the trade.
24 min
89
Breathe: My Unexpected Journey
A story from Dallas’ former life.
32 min
90
Relearning Boléro: How our brains rewrite the s...
Can we really trust our ears?
38 min
91
Ghosts in the Hit Machine: The secrets of music...
Inside the secretive world of ghostwriting and ghost producing.
27 min
92
Why Windows Got Rid of Startup Sounds
The death and rebirth of the Windows startup sound.
31 min
93
Ta-da! The history of Windows’ classic startup ...
Start me up.
26 min
94
The Waterphone: Hollywood’s spookiest sound effect
The sound that haunts Hollywood.
24 min
95
Mind the Gap: NYC & London’s iconic transit voices
Stand clear of the closing doors, please.
32 min
96
Hidden Hitmakers: The unsung heroes behind pop’...
Who writes the hits for the pop stars?
30 min
97
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
98
Pirate Radio: Britain’s AM rebels of the ’60s
How a group of scrappy radio pirates changed the course of music history.
33 min
99
Being Dallas Taylor: Meeting my name twins
What’s in a name?
40 min
100
Sul Sul! Behind the gibberish language of The Sims
The secrets of Simlish, the gibberish language of The Sims.
25 min