Twenty Thousand Hertz
The stories behind the world’s most iconic and fascinating sounds.
Episodes (51)
Sound Off (Gold): Transit Tunes & Childhood Chimes
We’re proud to present the winning entries from our Sound Off competition: five listener-made short stories that rose to the very top. From clever tinnitus tonics to melodic subway signals, from...
Yahoo! The Yodel Heard Around the World
It’s one of the quirkiest, most iconic sonic logos ever: a four-note vocal flourish that defined the early internet. In this episode, we follow the Yahoo Yodel on its unlikely journey from the snowy...
Super Mario Bros: Koji Kondo’s 8-Bit Masterpiece
From the springy jump sound to the iconic Overworld Theme, the sound of Super Mario Bros. is instantly recognizable. With just five lo-fi audio channels and 40 kilobytes of space, composer Koji Kondo...
Sound Off: Pinball Pings, Borrowed Melodies & Airport Acoustics
Presenting the second short story collection from our Sound Off competition, featuring five pieces written and produced entirely by our listeners. From the sonic evolution of pinball to reused...
Mixing Madison Square Garden for Vulfpeck’s Biggest Show
When Vulfpeck played a sold-out show at Madison Square Garden, the performance looked effortless. But behind the scenes, their Front of House Engineer and Tour Manager Jake Hartsfield was juggling...
The Music of Jeopardy! From a Lullaby to $100,000,000
It’s the most recognizable TV theme in America. But Jeopardy’s “Think Music” wasn’t originally written for a game show… It was written for a toddler. In this episode, we trace the unlikely journey of...
Sound Off: Siren Calls, Medical Melodies & Missing Frequencies
Twenty Thousand Hertz is proud to present the first short story collection from our Sound Off competition, featuring six bite-sized pieces written and produced entirely by our listeners. From the dawn...
I interviewed 5 other Dallas Taylors and things got weird
Your name isn’t just a label. It’s a signal to everyone who meets you, filled with meaning that you may not fully understand. In this story, Dallas revisits one of the most surreal experiences of his...
Mix Notes: Dumb Farts, Alien Crickets & Junkyard Instruments
Behind every incredible sound in a movie or TV show is a creative person with a unique story. In this episode, Dallas heads to the legendary Sony Pictures lot during Mix Magazine’s “Sound for Film &...
The Deaf Composer: How Beethoven wrote music he couldn’t hear
What happens when one of history’s greatest composers begins to lose the very sense he relies on most? In this episode, we explore how Ludwig van Beethoven continued to create groundbreaking music...
The Sonic Brand Makeover We Didn’t Know We Needed
After 10 years and 400 episodes, our friends at Switched on Pop decided it was finally time to revamp their outdated theme song. In this episode, they take us inside the chaotic, hilarious, and...
Inside Apple: Sonic Accessibility
If you want to know where the future of sound is headed, accessibility is a great place to look. And for decades, Apple has been leading the charge in accessible technology. In this episode, the Apple...
“In a World…” The epic evolution of movie trailers
Movie trailers have changed dramatically over the decades, from the classic “Voice of God” narrators of the ‘80s and ‘90s, to today’s thunderous “bwaahs” and “boojes.” In this episode, Dallas and...
“The Autumn, She’s Been Hit!” The wish that changed Halo forever
In the late ‘90s, Brian Johnson and Brian Morden were suburban teenagers obsessed with video games and music. And then, through an extraordinary wish, the two friends found themselves on a journey...
Solar Symphony: Listening to the Sun’s hidden “music”
What sound can teach us about our Sun? In this episode, we explore how NASA scientists translate electromagnetic waves from the Sun into sound, and even music. Through this process, researchers are...
Speaker Terror Upper: When Bass Tapes shook the streets
In the late '80s and early '90s, a seismic subculture shook the streets… literally. “Boom Cars,” decked out with custom sound systems, roamed neighborhoods blasting the bassiest music ever recorded....
Radio Station Jingles: 80 Years of Earworms
If you turn on the radio, there’s one thing you’re almost guaranteed to hear: a catchy, over the top jingle proclaiming the name and call letters of the radio station. But where did these little tunes...
Sound Pro Smackdown: Guess That Sound! w/ 3 industry experts
For our fifth annual Mystery Sound Game Show, Dallas invited three friends from the world of professional audio to compete against each other. So crank up the volume and see how many sounds you can...
Dog Translation Guide: Decoding Barks, Howls, & Growls
We all know that dogs are smart, sensitive creatures, but interpreting their vocalizations and behaviors can still be a challenge. In this episode, animal behaviorist Daniel Mills reveals the true...
Cat Translation Guide: Decoding Meows, Purrs, & Chirrups
Cats can be very vocal creatures, but the exact meaning and intention behind these sounds can often be hard to read. In this episode, cat behaviorist Sarah Brown unpacks the hidden meanings behind...
The Voices of Bluey w/ Uncle Stripe
Despite Bluey’s enormous, global popularity, the cast and crew are a tight-knit family, often literally. In part 2 of our story on Bluey, the show’s sound designer and mixer Dan Brumm breaks down the...
The Organic Sound of Bluey w/ Sound Designer Dan Brumm
Since its debut in 2018, Bluey has become one of the most popular and beloved TV shows of all time. In this episode, Bluey’s sound designer and mixer Dan Brumm walks us through how the show began, the...
"Blah, blah, blah" and the Ungooglable Phrase
“Blah, blah, blah” and “yada, yada, yada” have had plenty written about them. But there’s a longtime cousin of these phrases that’s much less understood. We use it all the time, yet it’s not in the...
Lofi Girl: The story behind 📚 beats to relax/study to
The Lofi Girl YouTube channel has over 14 millions subscribers, and at any given time, tens of thousands of people are listening together. Created by a mysterious French producer named Dimitri, the...
How Doctors Listen: A sonic journey through the body
The sounds our bodies make can tell doctors all kinds of surprising things about our health. In this episode, we unpack the history of sound in medical diagnosis, from Hippocratic times, to the...
The Sound of Apple: Marimbas, Radars & Reflections
In Part 2 of our deep dive into Apple’s iconic sound design, the Apple Design Team unpacks the iPhone’s trio of default ringtones, the evolution of their alarm sounds, the UX sounds of the AirPods...
The Sound of Apple: Tritones, Chords & Origins
Over the last few decades, Apple has produced some of the most recognizable sounds ever made. In this episode, the Apple design team pulls back the curtain on their sound design philosophy and...
Listener Stories: Auditory hallucinations & family whistles
For this special episode, we’ve passed the mic to our listeners to hear six unexpected stories about sound. Featuring auditory hallucinations, amplified heartbeats, long remembered voices, and...
The dark history of nursery rhymes
Many of the songs we sing to our children are hundreds of years old, with their original meanings obscured by history. In this episode, producer Leila Battison takes Dallas on a dark, surprising...
Sounds of the Deep: Mysteries and threats beneath the waves
Whale songs are some of the most beautiful, cathartic sounds in nature. These extraordinary creatures use sound to socialize, to mate, to find food, and avoid predators. But for aquatic animals, the...
Boom Bling: TikTok's sonic guerrilla marketing
TikTok’s sonic logo is one of the fastest growing sonic logos in history. Today, that little sound is being heard millions of times a day on apps like Instagram, Reddit and Youtube… but creating it...
Mixing Seth Meyers: Behind the sound of late night TV
The sound of Late Night television is a complex beast with many moving parts. In this episode, we step inside the daily hustle of Broadcast Mixer Fred Hedemark as he and his team bring the sound of...
Untranslatable Words: Guess That Meaning!
What do you call it when you’re homesick for a place you’ve never been? Is there a word for letting books pile up in your house without reading them? How about weather that looks beautiful out the...
Inside Hans Zimmer’s Remote Control Studios
Hans Zimmer is responsible for some of the most iconic film scores of the last 35 years. So how does one person create so much amazing music? It turns out, he doesn’t do it alone. In this episode,...
Hidden Sounds of America: NYC Hum & Underground Organ
All over the world, there are unique and breathtaking sounds that you can only hear in one specific place. In this episode, we travel to two of the most astounding sonic wonders in the United States....
All About That Bass: How pop became obsessed with the 808
If you listen to vintage music, one of the first things you’ll notice is the complete lack of bass. But turn on a Top 40 station today, and you’ll hear song after song with deep, sub-ratting bass...
Industrial Musicals: The Golden Age of corporate showtunes
For more than three decades, it was common for American companies to put on “industrial musicals” for their employees. These elaborate productions could rival Broadway shows, and featured original...
Into the Huluverse: The sonic evolution of Hulu
Today, virtually every streaming platform has a sonic logo, from HBO’s classic “Static Angel” to the iconic Netflix “Tudum.” For Hulu, standing out in such a crowded marketplace has been a process of...
Welcome to Twenty Thousand Hertz
The world of sound is full of great stories. To get in touch with your sonic world, follow Twenty Thousand Hertz right here in your podcast player. If you’re already a listener, send this trailer to...
Tournament of Champions: Guess That Sound! w/ past winners
For our fourth annual Mystery Sound Game Show, we pitted the winners from the past three years against each other. The result? Chaos and hilarity. So unclog your ears, put on your listening cap, and...
Tune Tech: Distortion, sequencers, Auto-Tune, and more
From electric guitars to samplers to drum machines and beyond, the music we love is only possible thanks to the technology used to create it. In many ways, the history of popular music is really a...
Headphone Handbook: How to pick your perfect pair
The world of headphones is a deep rabbit hole. With thousands of options and endless technical jargon, it’s hard to know which factors really matter, and which ones are just marketing gimmicks. In...
Sounds That Sell: How companies entice us with sonic candy
Since the earliest days of commercial radio, companies have been using sound to worm their way into our brains. And over the decades, they’ve come up with all kinds of sonic tactics to make us want,...
Auto-Tone: What will cars sound like in the future?
The sound of a roaring combustion engine is a fixture of modern life. But as electric vehicles become more and more common, these mechanical sounds will gradually be replaced with artificial tones...
Wilhelm Screamix: The sound effect that never dies
For more than seventy years now, filmmakers have been using and reusing a particular scream. Without a doubt, this is Hollywood’s most famous sound effect. Many people even know it by name. But...
Subtitles On: Why is movie dialogue so hard to understand?
In recent years, the dialogue in movies and TV shows has gotten harder and harder to understand. No one seems to agree on who or what the main culprit is, much less how to fix the problem. In this...
Gremlins, War Rigs, & Star Trek Punks
Mark Mangini is one of the most prolific sound designers of all time. He’s been credited on over 150 films, including Indiana Jones, Star Trek, Aladdin, Space Jam, The Green Mile, Anchorman, Mad Max:...
Do you talk to yourself in your head? (Not everyone does)
Many of us talk to ourselves in our heads pretty much all day long. But it turns out that there are plenty of people who don’t. In fact, thinking comes in many shapes and sizes, and no two minds are...
The Legend of Zelda: Tones of the Kingdom
The original Zelda game featured three melodies that would come to define the franchise: the Secret Unlocked Sound, the Treasure Chest sound, and the classic Zelda theme. Throughout the series, these...
The Legend of Zelda: A Beep to the Past
Music is a quintessential part of the Zelda series. And some of Zelda’s most iconic melodies go all the way back to the original game, on the Nintendo Entertainment System. These tunes were born in an...
From Vinyl to Streaming: How music formats shaped our world
The history of recorded sound stretches back over a hundred and fifty years, starting with a device that could “record” a voice on a piece of paper. Today, we can enjoy lossless streaming anywhere we...
About this Podcast
Language
en
Categories
Arts, Design, Music, Music Commentary