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
176
Deaf Gain: The promise and controversy of cochl...
The story of how a revolutionary implant sparked a human rights movement.
22 min
177
Plants That Listen (and some that sing)
For plants and the people who love them.
20 min
178
Sonic Illusions: Can you really trust your ears?
Our hearing can be deceiving.
20 min
179
Mother of Dragons(sounds): Game of Thrones’ bit...
Hear from the sound designer who gave a voice to the dragons, direwolves, white walkers, and more in Game of Thrones.
19 min
180
Sound Escapes: Nature’s untouched soundtrack
Sound Tracker Gordon Hempton gives us a masterclass on how to listen.
28 min
181
The Voyager Golden Record: Humanity’s message t...
The most epic album of all time isn’t even on Earth. It’s over 11 billion miles away.
31 min
182
Bird Translation Guide: Decoding Tweets, Hoots,...
The story of how birdbrains produce the most complex sounds in the natural world.
24 min
183
Phone Tones: The hidden language of phone numbe...
The touch tone sounds from our phones might be slowly going extinct.
22 min
184
The Booj: The secret sound formula behind block...
The story of the sounds you always hear in movie trailers, but never noticed... until now.
22 min
185
Dining on Decibels: Why are restaurants so noisy?
The story behind how restaurants became so darn loud.
21 min
186
Do Not Disturb: The unseen impacts of alarms an...
The story of how alarms and alerts came to rule, and endanger, our lives.
24 min
187
Blue! 42! How helmet radio changed the NFL
How headsets revolutionized American football.
23 min
188
Silence: Dispatches from the quietest place on ...
Dallas is locked into an anechoic chamber to experience how our brains process complete silence.
21 min
189
A sonic journey through the Solar System
A completely remixed version of our favorite episode, where we explore what other plants sound like.
19 min
190
Boots ’n Cats: The scientific secrets of beatbo...
The evolution & science of beatboxing.
21 min
191
Being George Clooney: Dubbing Hollywood celebri...
Explore how Hollywood films are adapted for foreign languages.
30 min
192
The Xbox Startup Sound: Crafting a console classic
How the designers of the Xbox startup sounds overcame tight parameters to come up with an iconic audio logo.
21 min
193
Theater for the Mind: The Golden Age of radio d...
The stories behind the golden age of sci-fi and horror radio dramas.
29 min
194
Theremin: The instrument that defined classic s...
The story behind this infamous, spooky-sounding instrument.
25 min
195
Cartoon Sound Effects: From Steamboat Willie to...
How were old cartoon sounds made, and how did they become so iconic?
27 min
196
Behind the Mic: The making of Twenty Thousand H...
A behind the scenes look at the inspiration and creation of Twenty Thousand Hertz.
31 min
197
Jingles: How they hooked us and why they vanished
What is the story behind these unforgettable earworms?
28 min
198
“Intel Inside” and other sonic branding brilliance
The story behind audio logos and what makes them so powerful.
24 min
199
Loop Groups: The art of movie background chatter
We go behind the scene with the actors responsible for bringing your TV and film backgrounds to life.
25 min
200
Slot Machines: The addictive power of sound
The sound design and science behind today's slot machines.
16 min