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
176
Soundmarks: AT&T, United Airlines, and inventi...
How sonic branding shapes a brand.
26 min
177
Deaf Gain: The promise and controversy of coch...
The story of how a revolutionary implant sparked a human rights movement.
22 min
178
Plants That Listen (and some that sing)
For plants and the people who love them.
20 min
179
Sonic Illusions: Can you really trust your ears?
Our hearing can be deceiving.
20 min
180
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
181
Sound Escapes: Nature’s untouched soundtrack
Sound Tracker Gordon Hempton gives us a masterclass on how to listen.
28 min
182
The Voyager Golden Record: Humanity’s message ...
The most epic album of all time isn’t even on Earth. It’s over 11 billion miles away.
31 min
183
Bird Translation Guide: Decoding Tweets, Hoots...
The story of how birdbrains produce the most complex sounds in the natural world.
24 min
184
Phone Tones: The hidden language of phone numb...
The touch tone sounds from our phones might be slowly going extinct.
22 min
185
The Booj: The secret sound formula behind bloc...
The story of the sounds you always hear in movie trailers, but never noticed... until now.
22 min
186
Dining on Decibels: Why are restaurants so noisy?
The story behind how restaurants became so darn loud.
21 min
187
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
188
Blue! 42! How helmet radio changed the NFL
How headsets revolutionized American football.
23 min
189
Silence: Dispatches from the quietest place on...
Dallas is locked into an anechoic chamber to experience how our brains process complete silence.
21 min
190
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
191
Boots ’n Cats: The scientific secrets of beatb...
The evolution & science of beatboxing.
21 min
192
Being George Clooney: Dubbing Hollywood celebri...
Explore how Hollywood films are adapted for foreign languages.
30 min
193
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
194
Theater for the Mind: The Golden Age of radio ...
The stories behind the golden age of sci-fi and horror radio dramas.
29 min
195
Theremin: The instrument that defined classic s...
The story behind this infamous, spooky-sounding instrument.
25 min
196
Cartoon Sound Effects: From Steamboat Willie to...
How were old cartoon sounds made, and how did they become so iconic?
27 min
197
Behind the Mic: The making of Twenty Thousand ...
A behind the scenes look at the inspiration and creation of Twenty Thousand Hertz.
31 min
198
Jingles: How they hooked us and why they vanished
What is the story behind these unforgettable earworms?
28 min
199
“Intel Inside” and other sonic branding brilli...
The story behind audio logos and what makes them so powerful.
24 min
200
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