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
Found In Translation: Guess That Meaning!
Pardon my tartle.
19 min
77
Why insurance jingles never die
If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.
34 min
78
Soundalikes: The secret voice behind Toy Story’...
Hanks for listening.
27 min
79
Golden: Finding silence in a world of noise
Finding solitude in chaos.
31 min
80
Recalculating: The surprising lives of GPS voices
Head South.
29 min
81
Guess That Sound 2022: Endless Thread
Stop, hey, what’s that sound?
50 min
82
Synth Showdown: Digital vs. Analog
A new foe has appeared!
22 min
83
Synth Showdown: Moog vs. Buchla
Round one. Fight!
23 min
84
A Thousand Words: Audio description for all!
Do you see what I hear?
27 min
85
The Booj Strikes Back: Why all modern trailers ...
How to turn your trailers up to 11.
24 min
86
The weird, wild world of 1-900 numbers
The rise and fall of 900 numbers.
34 min
87
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
88
TikTalk: The woman who sued TikTok for using he...
Meet the voices of TikTok.
28 min
89
The sonic secrets behind Ted Lasso
The winning sound design behind Ted Lasso.
30 min
90
Sonic Happiness: A guide to feeling better thro...
Practical tips for making your world sound better so that you feel better.
42 min
91
Shock Horror A: The origin of the dramatic “Dun...
Dun dun duuun!
27 min
92
Sleight of Ear: Behind the scenes w/ Dallas Taylor
Dallas reveals the tricks of the trade.
24 min
93
Breathe: My Unexpected Journey
A story from Dallas’ former life.
32 min
94
Relearning Boléro: How our brains rewrite the s...
Can we really trust our ears?
38 min
95
Ghosts in the Hit Machine: The secrets of music...
Inside the secretive world of ghostwriting and ghost producing.
27 min
96
Why Windows Got Rid of Startup Sounds
The death and rebirth of the Windows startup sound.
31 min
97
Ta-da! The history of Windows’ classic startup ...
Start me up.
26 min
98
The Waterphone: Hollywood’s spookiest sound effect
The sound that haunts Hollywood.
24 min
99
Mind the Gap: NYC & London’s iconic transit voices
Stand clear of the closing doors, please.
32 min
100
Hidden Hitmakers: The unsung heroes behind pop’...
Who writes the hits for the pop stars?
30 min