Tournament of Champions: Guess That Sound! w/ past winners

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Speaker 1 To learn more, head to sonos.com. That's s-o-n-os-com.

Speaker 1 You're listening to 20,000 Hertz.

Speaker 1 People often tell me that one of their favorite things about this show is the mystery sound. As most of you know, in each episode, we play a mysterious sound and ask you to guess what it is.

Speaker 1 Anyone who guesses it right is entered to win one of our super soft t-shirts. Then, in the next episode, we reveal what that sound was and announce a winner.

Speaker 1 Now, Now, for the past few years, we've made it a tradition to end the season with a special mystery sound game show.

Speaker 1 Each time, we invite some of our favorite podcasters to come on the show and see how many mystery sounds they can guess. But this year, we have something special in store.

Speaker 1 We took the winners from the past three years and pitted them against each other. And I gotta say, the results were pretty hilarious.

Speaker 1 So, without further ado, unclog your ears, put on your listening cap, and get ready to play along.

Speaker 3 Welcome to the 20,000 Hertz Mystery Sound Tournament of Champions. In this fierce competition, three former winners will go head to head to see who can become the ultimate mystery sound champion.

Speaker 3 The rules are simple. Each sound is worth a total of three points.
If the sound is guessed correctly without any hints, the guesser will receive all three.

Speaker 3 If one hint is given, the guesser will earn two points.

Speaker 3 If two hints are given, the guesser will receive a single point.

Speaker 3 Three players will enter. Only one will emerge victorious.
Let's the games begin.

Speaker 1 I'm so nervous because Grace and I have been going back and forth on these sounds, and I've been pushing it like simpler and simpler, and she's been pushing it more complex.

Speaker 2 Grace, no.

Speaker 1 So now I'm worried that everything's going to be way too easy, but we'll find out.

Speaker 2 See, I'm just worried that I'm only good at it in comparison to my brothers, right? That like in comparison to normal people, I won't be very good.

Speaker 2 Giving us that warning at the beginning also sets us up for a horrible, embarrassing failure when we actually don't do well. Oh, yeah.

Speaker 1 So be embarrassed. It's an easy one.
We'll see.

Speaker 2 Really? Okay.

Speaker 1 So we have the winner of our 2020 game was Travis McElroy from all of the podcasts.

Speaker 1 So my brother, my brother, and me, The Adventure Adventure Zone, Schmanners, and every other podcast that's out there.

Speaker 1 So he rose to victory in our first Mystery Sound episode by identifying iconic sounds like the ring wraith

Speaker 1 and got pretty darn close to guessing the sound of a herring fart.

Speaker 1 So that's Travis.

Speaker 2 Yeah.

Speaker 2 Wow.

Speaker 1 We also have John Lago Marcino, the winner of our 2021 Mystery Sound Game show. He co-hosts the podcast Under Understood.

Speaker 1 So John totally just swept the competition last year or a few years back and clinched the victory by identifying the recreation of an ancient Egyptian mummy's voice.

Speaker 2 Oh, that's right. Oh man, I think this is the one I listened to and I was like, forget it.

Speaker 2 I'm out. I'm going to lose hard.

Speaker 1 Last year's winner is Emily Jankowski. Emily is a sound designer for WBR's podcast department, mixing endless thread, last seen, and the common.

Speaker 1 So Emily won last year by guessing one of the most obscure mystery sounds ever, which was a sound sculpture in Croatia.

Speaker 2 Now wait, did you get the Croatia part? No, no. Okay.

Speaker 2 Now remind me, because it's been three years since I played. Do we ring in?

Speaker 1 Oh, I'm going to leave that to our scorekeeper, Grace East.

Speaker 4 Hello, hello. I'm one of the producers of 20,000 Hertz.
You can just dive right in with your answer, and then we'll award points based on if you got it with no clues, one clue, or two clues.

Speaker 2 Got it. Okay.

Speaker 1 Okay. And if that doesn't work, we'll just change the rules as we go.

Speaker 2 Yeah. Sick.
I love that. Sounds fair.

Speaker 1 So I'm ready to dive into this. This year we have 18 sounds.

Speaker 1 So is everyone ready to start with sound number one?

Speaker 2 Let's do it. it.
Ready? Ready as I'll ever be.

Speaker 3 Sound number one.

Speaker 1 Universal.

Speaker 2 Fox searchlight? Done.

Speaker 4 All right, John. That was correct.

Speaker 2 Oh, man. I need

Speaker 2 the movie ones are going to kill me. Okay, when are we starting? Anytime now, let's go.

Speaker 2 That was practice.

Speaker 1 So that's Universal Studios fanfare. The original version was composed by Jerry Goldsmith in 1997.

Speaker 1 He also composed the music for iconic movies like Poltergeist, Alien, and Gremlins. The little fanfare received a little update in 2012, which is the version we just played.

Speaker 1 But they made sure to preserve the iconic melody from the 90s.

Speaker 2 I thought that was older than the 90s. Yeah, I would have guessed that too.
Because I think of like all of those, you know, like planes flying around claymation earth and stuff of like 1950s and 60s.

Speaker 2 I would have guessed way older. Yeah.
So me too.

Speaker 4 Fun fact: the original original is quite old, but Jerry Goldsmith's iconic version is from the 90s.

Speaker 2 Before there was a lot more like slide whistle and harpsichord and stuff. Exactly.

Speaker 2 Exactly.

Speaker 3 Sounds number two.

Speaker 2 Oh, that's a message.

Speaker 2 Yurgis was right. Oh, man.

Speaker 4 John, was that you again?

Speaker 2 I thought I won.

Speaker 1 Emily also chimed in right then, but I'm going to leave this to the scorekeeper.

Speaker 4 It was very close. I think everyone was like on the ball here.
I'm going to do an even three points across the board. Nice.

Speaker 2 Thank you.

Speaker 1 So that sound is the knock brush notification on Slack. So Slack's notification sounds are largely taken from its video game predecessor, Glitch.

Speaker 1 If that knock brush sounds haunt you in your sleep, Slack has a bunch of other options.

Speaker 2 Oh, gross.

Speaker 2 Oh, God.

Speaker 1 For some reason, they even have a person quietly saying hummus.

Speaker 2 Hummus.

Speaker 2 What they do.

Speaker 1 And apparently, in 2016, Slack tweeted that this was a goofy tribute to one of their beloved co-workers.

Speaker 2 That's how I'm going to ring in for now. Hummus.

Speaker 2 Hummus.

Speaker 2 Hummus.

Speaker 2 Hummus.

Speaker 3 Sounds

Speaker 2 No idea.

Speaker 1 All right, John.

Speaker 2 Wait, am I supposed to know this?

Speaker 2 Because I do not. One more game.
Can we play it again?

Speaker 2 Nothing.

Speaker 2 Nope.

Speaker 1 Okay, hint number one. Fans of this series often mistake this for an alien language.

Speaker 2 We are all far too nervous right now to even attempt to identify the language that's being spoken in this clip.

Speaker 2 I'm guessing it's something from Firefly. That's a good guess.
Because they used a lot of like mixes of different languages to give it like a spacey, cross-cultural feel.

Speaker 4 You are so. That's a very, very good guess, but no.

Speaker 1 Yeah.

Speaker 2 I mean, Star Trek?

Speaker 4 Ooh, so close again.

Speaker 2 Star Wars.

Speaker 1 That's right. There we go.
Okay, so it is a character from Star Wars that I don't think anyone's going to get. Any guesses before we reveal this?

Speaker 1 None.

Speaker 2 Oh, man. Is it one of those Ewoks?

Speaker 1 It's not, but John said none, which is so close, honestly.

Speaker 2 That doesn't make sense.

Speaker 1 Well, here's the reveal. So no points, but the character's name is Neon Num from Star Wars, Return of the Jedi.

Speaker 1 He co-pilots the Millennium Falcon with Lando during the attack on the Death Star. Yeah.

Speaker 2 The jowly-looking guy. The jowl-looking guy.
Exactly.

Speaker 4 The very same.

Speaker 2 What language is it?

Speaker 1 So while many people assume the character is speaking an invented alien language, he's actually speaking a real Kenyan language called Kikuyu.

Speaker 1 And he was voiced by Bill Kipsing Rotish.

Speaker 4 Yep, Rotish.

Speaker 2 What's the translation?

Speaker 4 So I actually verified this with a former colleague of mine who's familiar with this language. And it says, All you guys over there, come over here.

Speaker 2 Is that relevant in what's going on in the they're flying around? They're flying,

Speaker 2 man. I've watched, I've watched Top Gun before, and that's how they give commands to Top Gun too.
Like, hey, move your planes closer to my plane, get over here.

Speaker 2 This is where the bad guy is. The bad guy's here, where I am.
Come here, please. Shoot your guns now.
Shoot your guns in that direction. No, no, closer to there, where I'm pointing.

Speaker 3 Sounds number four.

Speaker 2 It's the hold music. Woo! Oh, yeah.
That hold music. It is hold music.

Speaker 1 But which company is that hold music for?

Speaker 2 Oh, man. But it's been a bunch of, on a bunch of companies, though.

Speaker 1 You're right. That is technically correct.
But there is a very, I don't know, corporate-y,

Speaker 1 you know, it's exactly like the company that you would expect this would come from. I, I think.

Speaker 2 Holdcom.

Speaker 2 I think I remember this when i was like getting a vitamix

Speaker 1 and i couldn't get my phone it they were backordered i know like i've heard this in the wilds oh man i don't know like an it company an insurance company hmm it's an at t oh gosh i really want to give some points on this one um and both of the hints are like basically just leading to hold music um i don't know i'll just make up a hint it's like part of the name of a big city in California.

Speaker 2 Uh-huh.

Speaker 4 Silicon

Speaker 2 Snowy.

Speaker 2 Angel.

Speaker 2 Is it Cisco Whole Music?

Speaker 2 There it is. Cisco.

Speaker 2 Ding, ding, ding. Nice.

Speaker 4 So I think I'm going to award at the very least some partial points because you all got whole music, but Travis. I did not, actually.

Speaker 2 I got nowhere near it. Oh, Jonathan.

Speaker 1 Thanks for being honest.

Speaker 4 Thank you for your honesty.

Speaker 2 I didn't get it either. I think I just said, yeah, and agreed.

Speaker 2 That's enough.

Speaker 2 I don't think so. Listen, as much as I love just skating off the back of the work of someone else by agreeing with them and then getting the credit for it, I didn't say whole music.

Speaker 4 Emily was our first entry for whole music. I heard you loud and clear.
So I think you're going to get two points, Emily, for that contribution.

Speaker 4 And then Travis, I'm going to give you one for identifying Cisco.

Speaker 2 I'll take that.

Speaker 1 Yeah, the points are kind of negotiable if you really want to negotiate.

Speaker 2 Okay. I'll give you $100 if I win.
This is a funny layer of the game. I like that.

Speaker 1 So that was the Cisco hold music, also known as Opus number one.

Speaker 1 It was created in 1989 by a 16-year-old named Tim Carlton using a drum machine and a synthesizer.

Speaker 1 Years later, Tim's friend got a job at Cisco and programmed the track as the default hold music for the company's new phones. And the rest is history.

Speaker 2 Did Tim get to a second opus? I hope so. More than that, did Tim get paid? Yeah.
That's a better question.

Speaker 1 That is a better question. Yeah.

Speaker 2 Where is he today?

Speaker 2 Right here. Come in here, Tim.

Speaker 1 Okay, so where are we with points, Grace, overall?

Speaker 4 Yeah, so Emily is in the lead with five.

Speaker 2 How?

Speaker 4 Travis is in a close second with four, and John is in a close third with three.

Speaker 2 Oh, boy.

Speaker 3 Sounds number five.

Speaker 2 Is this HBO?

Speaker 1 It is not HBO.

Speaker 2 Then it must be TV.

Speaker 2 Is it Viacom

Speaker 2 from the 90s?

Speaker 1 Maybe these are not as easy as I thought.

Speaker 2 Take that, John. This is like a home video thing.
This is...

Speaker 2 I get the home video vibes from that, yeah coming to home video yeah exactly what can you play it one more time

Speaker 2 it's really good yeah yeah

Speaker 2 this is the sound that slack should play every time you get a message right

Speaker 2 I would like this sound to play when I enter a room Yes.

Speaker 1 My favorite thing about the mystery sound show is that there are at least 10,000 people simultaneously

Speaker 1 freaking out because they know this is furious.

Speaker 2 Is it a startup sound for like

Speaker 2 Sega Dreamcast?

Speaker 1 Oh, you keep going.

Speaker 2 It's the PlayStation.

Speaker 4 We had the correct answer between John and Emily. It is the first-gen PlayStation startup.

Speaker 2 Oh.

Speaker 1 Yes. But then again, John was working off of Emily's startup sound.
Yeah, I do.

Speaker 2 I do deserve a point.

Speaker 4 I think, again, what we're going to do is Emily gets two and John gets one.

Speaker 2 Okay.

Speaker 1 So, this is the startup sound from the first PlayStation console. It was created by a Japanese sound designer, Takafumi Fujisawa.

Speaker 1 And in 1994, he also created an alternate version where he whispered the words PlayStation over the animation.

Speaker 2 Hummus. Hummus.

Speaker 1 But it was ultimately nixed by the rest of the team.

Speaker 2 Oh, bummer.

Speaker 1 All right. So

Speaker 1 the next one is a song, and we're looking for the song title.

Speaker 2 So

Speaker 1 let's go.

Speaker 3 Sounds number six.

Speaker 2 Freezing cold in Ains Tonight Juzo. You the cold maze save one.
Freezing cold in nineteen tonight Juzo. I know this is that Italian song.

Speaker 1 Oh, yeah.

Speaker 2 Oh, yeah. Yeah, it's Italian, and it's not English, but it sounds like English.
Oh, you got it. Oh, man.
And I don't know what it's called, but it's a fantastic song from like the 70s.

Speaker 2 The video's incredible for it, too. Yeah.

Speaker 4 Emily, you absolutely got it.

Speaker 2 All the points.

Speaker 1 So, yeah, I would award 10 points if anybody could actually say the name of this, but I will go ahead and reveal it and do my best.

Speaker 2 Okay.

Speaker 1 It is the beginning of the song.

Speaker 1 Preason Colin Esinis Inkuzel. Did I get that?

Speaker 2 Grace?

Speaker 2 It is.

Speaker 2 It is.

Speaker 4 Not that this is a real word. It's presencinant choosal.

Speaker 2 Did you practice that?

Speaker 1 There's no way that you just got that on the first try.

Speaker 2 Oh, no.

Speaker 2 Did I say it? Oh, right. Yeah, yeah, you got it.

Speaker 1 So that's Italian pop star Adriano Celentano. Did I get that one?

Speaker 4 It's Adriano Celentano.

Speaker 2 So no.

Speaker 1 And if you have trouble identifying the words, that's because Adriano Adriano wrote the song entirely in gibberish as a playful ode to the way American English sounds to non-English speakers.

Speaker 1 And he actually improvised the entire song over a series of looped drum beats. And here's a little bit more of that song.

Speaker 2 We design the shoes and I will home into seen in a horror and mapping the colour boss dying.

Speaker 2 Love the horns. Does he speak English? Good question.
I don't know.

Speaker 1 There's a lot of questions coming back to us that I was unprepared for.

Speaker 2 This is the real quiz.

Speaker 1 Luckily, we have the power of editing. So we will.

Speaker 2 The question will happen and then an abrupt cut with you saying, he did not speak English.

Speaker 2 Should we give you some reactions? They're like, oh, okay. Hold on.
Oh, disappointing.

Speaker 2 Oh, really? Oh.

Speaker 2 I thought you'd say the other way.

Speaker 2 He only spoke French and he was from Italy, huh? Weird. Okay.

Speaker 2 It was Kenyon. Oh, okay.

Speaker 2 You can use that one earlier. Yeah.

Speaker 3 Sounds number seven.

Speaker 2 Well, that's something underwater.

Speaker 2 That a bronosaurus from Jurassic Park. It sounds like a dinosaur grown fart.

Speaker 2 Yeah.

Speaker 2 You got it. It's a dinosaur drowned.
I just knew it. Just a dinosaur going, oh, and then just letting it loose.
Yeah.

Speaker 1 So this sound is made by an animal that is alive and well today.

Speaker 2 A hippo? Nope. An alligator?

Speaker 4 Nope.

Speaker 2 Is it a water animal?

Speaker 1 It is not. You don't find them in North America.

Speaker 2 What is in the world? Interesting.

Speaker 2 It's not found in North America. Is it a

Speaker 2 polar bear?

Speaker 1 Um, it is not.

Speaker 2 No, is it a mammal?

Speaker 1 Yes, uh, yes, is it a gorilla?

Speaker 2 Is it a um so?

Speaker 1 The hit number two, which is not going to get us very far, but this sound might even be considered attractive to some.

Speaker 2 It's a mating call of a aardvark,

Speaker 2 uh, ant eater.

Speaker 2 Uh,

Speaker 2 I mean, everything is attractive to someone. That's true.
Not everything.

Speaker 2 Aww.

Speaker 2 Okay, I ran out of alphabetical animals after two. That's not good.
A beaver. Definitely exists in North America, Travis.

Speaker 4 So I can give a geographical hint. Yes, it's found in deserts.

Speaker 2 A camel. Yes.

Speaker 2 Oh, my goodness. Very good.
I was almost to the seas. I was so close.

Speaker 2 Oh, I know what that is. That's the weird bulbous thing coming out of their mouth.
Exactly.

Speaker 2 Have you ever seen this before, you guys? Camels, they have this thing.

Speaker 2 They have like this organ or skin or something, but it blows out like a giant bubble out of their mouth, and it's disgusting, and it's so weird, and you have to Google it. Oh, yes.

Speaker 1 So that is the sound of a camel using an organ in its mouth called a doula. It almost looks like a big inflatable tongue, which they fill with air to make that gurgling sound.

Speaker 1 So male camels use this technique when it's time to attract a mate and assert their dominance to any other males nearby.

Speaker 2 Oh my God, I'm looking at a photo of it. See? Oh, I told you.

Speaker 2 So what we're led to believe is not only is this attractive to females, okay, but also that the camel would do this and another camel would be like, oh, look at the inflatable mouth organ on that guy.

Speaker 2 No way I'm messing with him. Look at him.
And the other camera would be like, Wait, what are you afraid he's going to do with the big mouth organ?

Speaker 2 I don't know, man, but with that mouth organ, that thing, you know, he's like a real scrapper. Why would you assume that?

Speaker 2 Well, you know what they say: big or mouth organ, he's gonna mess you up in a fight. Nobody says that, Derek.

Speaker 2 Where does this go when it's not being used? Please chew on it.

Speaker 2 Oh, I hate that.

Speaker 2 In order for that to have evolved that way, then there had to be a first camel that had a little bit of a pink bubble that could pop out. And all the lady camels were like, whoa, whoa, whoa.

Speaker 2 Step aside, everybody. Look at his little pink bubble, mouth bubble.
Clearly, they've got something going on there. And I definitely want my kids to be able to do that.

Speaker 1 Can I hear that sound one more time before we move on?

Speaker 2 Oh, no, with the image now in front of me.

Speaker 2 Oh,

Speaker 2 it's a warble for me. The last little.

Speaker 3 Sounds number eight.

Speaker 2 It says Star Trek tricorder. Ooh.
Is this a sonar from a submarine?

Speaker 1 No.

Speaker 1 Travis is in the universe.

Speaker 2 Oh, really? Yeah. Is it from Star Trek?

Speaker 1 It is.

Speaker 2 Hmm. The scanner?

Speaker 2 Well, when they're hailed by another ship, it is organic.

Speaker 2 Oh, no, it's a triple.

Speaker 2 Yes, correct. What even is that? What is that? Triple was in Star Trek, and they got it as this little like ball of fur, right?

Speaker 2 But the thing about it is it replicates, like, it reproduces at an astronomical rate.

Speaker 2 So there's a famous original series episode called Trouble with Tribbles, where they get one, And by the end of the episode, like the ship is just overrun with these things, right?

Speaker 2 But all they are, they have no face. They have no defining features.
It just looks like kind of a deflated like basketball, but covered in fur.

Speaker 2 So there's all these scenes of like Spock and Kirk and stuff just like in rooms up to their necks.

Speaker 2 in these things trying to act like well the problem is it's just clogging everything up but it just seems like okay cool man um put them somewhere i don't know

Speaker 2 i have to assume they like just open the airlock and drop them out somewhere. Yeah, exactly.

Speaker 2 Easy problem to solve. Yeah.

Speaker 1 So that is indeed called a triple from Star Trek, and these furry multiplying aliens debuted on the original series in 1967.

Speaker 1 The sound designer is Doug Grindstaff, and he used recordings of doves cooing and then experimented playing the tape backwards and changing the playback speeds.

Speaker 1 To get the desired effect, he even altered the tape itself using scissors, nail files, and steel wool.

Speaker 2 Cool. Wow.

Speaker 3 Sound number nine.

Speaker 2 Oh, man. Oh, my God.
I know this one. Me too.

Speaker 2 Oh, no.

Speaker 2 Oh, I know. It's...

Speaker 2 Okay, it's...

Speaker 2 I tot. Nope.
Could you play it again? Play it again.

Speaker 2 Oh, my God. It's in commercials.
It's a brand. Is it T-Mobile?

Speaker 1 It is not.

Speaker 2 Is it Sprint? Is it Mint Mobile? It is not.

Speaker 1 I would argue it's probably like the most prolific brand sound out there.

Speaker 2 Netflix, Hulu?

Speaker 1 I'm just letting the thousands and thousands of people freak out in this moment. It's ATNT.
It is not AT ⁇ T, although it does sound like an ATNT sound.

Speaker 2 One more time. Play it one more time.

Speaker 2 Somebody said Verizon already, right?

Speaker 1 It is not a phone. Well, it's not a phone, but you do find it on a phone most of the time.

Speaker 2 The Gmail?

Speaker 2 No.

Speaker 2 Google. The Google?

Speaker 2 The Google. Google sound.
When you Google something, bang. Bing.

Speaker 2 Bing.

Speaker 2 Yeah. No, I know we all know this, but it's.

Speaker 1 So you might recognize this if you frequent social media.

Speaker 2 Is it TikTok?

Speaker 1 It is TikTok.

Speaker 1 Oh, yeah.

Speaker 2 Yeah, that's right. It plays at the end of the videos.
That's that's, I'm not a TikToker. That's what's going on.

Speaker 2 Here's the thing, though. It plays at the end of the videos unless you're watching it on TikTok.
That's right. Because then it just loses.

Speaker 2 Brilliant. Yeah, you're right.

Speaker 2 So the only time you ever see that is when it's like been posted somewhere else.

Speaker 1 That's exactly right. So that is the TikTok outro music that plays after a video.
The creators at Massive Music saw TikTok.

Speaker 2 All right, boomer.

Speaker 2 Do you think it bothers the folks at TikTok that their brand has been like ruined by the social media company? I guarantee TikTok's just happy to be talked about. Right?

Speaker 2 It wasn't like, man, before that, we were so proud. Everyone loved TikTok.

Speaker 2 I'm not, and listen, before you come at me, audience, I'm not saying there's anything wrong with TikToks. I'm just saying, when was the last time TikToks were cool? You know what I mean?

Speaker 1 That's true.

Speaker 1 So the creators at Massive Music saw TikTok as the playground of the internet and wanted to evoke creativity and joy in a sound.

Speaker 1 That first bass hit and following ascending melody is a nod to TikTok's musical origins.

Speaker 4 So I'm going to give two points to John.

Speaker 2 Finally.

Speaker 4 Because correctly guessed, I think it was just one hint.

Speaker 3 We're halfway through the game, and the competition is heating up. Who will become the ultimate moister of the mystery sounds, and who will be left in the dust? We'll find out after these messages.

Speaker 1 AI is in the news a lot these days. We're all trying to make sense of how it'll change our lives, our relationships, and of course, the way we work.

Speaker 1 And that's where the Working Smarter podcast comes in. In each episode, the hosts talk to real people who are actually using these tools about what it really looks like to work with AI.

Speaker 1 For instance, there's a chef who uses AI to make prep work less of a grind. That way, he can be more creative in the kitchen.

Speaker 1 Then there are scientists who are using AI to find long-lost shipwrecks in the Great Lakes.

Speaker 1 And there's an episode about how AI is being used in the world of sports science, including wearable technology and algorithms trained on video footage from practices.

Speaker 1 With the right experts guiding them, tools like these can help us prevent injuries and better understand the human body.

Speaker 1 Working Smarter goes beyond the headlines and shows how AI can help you do more of what you do best so that you can work smarter too.

Speaker 1 Follow Working Smarter wherever you get your podcasts, or visit workingsmarter.ai.

Speaker 1 Congratulations to Aleister Sears for correctly guessing last episode's mystery sound.

Speaker 1 That's the Universal Studios fanfare. Now, you heard this at the top of the show, but we have a few more factoids for you.
Composer Jimmy McHugh wrote the first version in 1936.

Speaker 1 Decades later, James Horner created a new version for Universal's 75th anniversary.

Speaker 1 It wasn't until 1997 that Jerry Goldsmith composed the Universal Fanfare that we've come to know and love.

Speaker 1 Now, this is our last mystery sound of the year, but we'll be back in January with more Sonic Mysteries.

Speaker 1 And if you can't wait that long for a chance to win a super soft 20K t-shirt, check out our online store along with all kinds of other products at 20k.org/slash shop.

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Speaker 3 Welcome back to the Mystery Sound Tournament of Champions. With nine sounds remaining, it's still anyone's game.

Speaker 3 Sound number 10.

Speaker 2 That's Zelda when you open a chest or Final Fantasy when you open a chest. Travis very close.
Yeah, it's when you you beat the boss, right? Yeah.

Speaker 4 Yeah, nailed it, nailed it.

Speaker 1 So that is the so-called victory fanfare from the original Final Fantasy game on the NES. It was created by Japanese composer.

Speaker 1 I really should have practiced these names before I just got into a recording session.

Speaker 2 What a strange last name.

Speaker 1 I'm going to go with

Speaker 1 Nobao Uimatsu.

Speaker 4 Nobuo Uimatsu.

Speaker 1 And like the Zelda C, I'm going to have to re-record all this stuff.

Speaker 1 And like the secret unzoted, and like the Zelda Secret Unlocked Melody, this fanfare has appeared in almost every final fantasy game so here it is in final fantasy four

Speaker 1 final fantasy seven

Speaker 2 and final fantasy 16

Speaker 2 that one's just scary I love that it's reharmonized every time. This is so cool.

Speaker 1 I wasn't a Final Fantasy player as a kid. Now I just want to relive it.

Speaker 2 oh it's good it's good man there's some moments that scar me for life oh

Speaker 3 sound number 11

Speaker 2 sounds like a glass harmonica sure does it almost sounds too like a connecting a call sound is it the beginning of man in the mirror

Speaker 2 that's close i mean that's i mean that's not close it's not close at at all but it does sound exactly like that

Speaker 2 you really know how to build someone up and then break them down here on the show

Speaker 2 that's really close not in an accuracy way but yes sonically yeah so this sound is ai powered did i get that right

Speaker 2 okay that's hint number one

Speaker 2 oh yeah okay i get it now So this is like a recreation of

Speaker 2 or like a model of running your finger over glasses?

Speaker 1 So I'm going to go with hint number two, which is:

Speaker 1 this sound wishes it was Siri.

Speaker 2 Cortana?

Speaker 2 There it is. Yeah.

Speaker 1 So that's the sound of Cortana, the Microsoft virtual assistant. Cortana never quite made it as big as Siri or Alexa and was just recently phased out for good in August of this year.

Speaker 1 The virtual assistant was actually named after the synthetic intelligence character from Halo. Go ahead, Cortana.

Speaker 3 Another whisper, sir, near IO. We have probes probes en route.

Speaker 2 That's weird.

Speaker 2 It's weird that Microsoft will be like, you know, we already got one. Let's just use that.
Like, if Apple had been like, yeah, this is the

Speaker 2 helper, Angry Birds.

Speaker 2 Monday Night Football.

Speaker 1 Yeah.

Speaker 2 Well, just Fox Sports in general?

Speaker 1 Not football.

Speaker 4 Yes, very close.

Speaker 2 Basketball.

Speaker 2 Baseball.

Speaker 2 Here we go.

Speaker 2 I think I overgeneralized because baseball is the only sport I watch, and I figured it was just what they put on all the sports.

Speaker 2 Right.

Speaker 1 So that is the MLB on Fox theme. And yeah, it was written by someone named Scott Schreer, who also composed the NFL theme for Fox, which sounds like this.

Speaker 1 Oh, there it is.

Speaker 1 There it is. Yes.

Speaker 2 Those blasts are so good. Guys, that sounds so menacing.
It's so meant. Like, watch out, football's coming.

Speaker 2 Football heard what you were saying about it. It's coming to kill you.

Speaker 1 So in 2010, the NFL theme actually replaced the official theme for all Fox sports broadcasts, including the MLB theme. And they did that for nine years.

Speaker 1 But after almost a decade of sitting on the bench, the MLB theme made a triumphant comeback in 2020.

Speaker 2 There you have it. Yeah, where are we with points?

Speaker 4 For sure. So on the MLB and Fox theme, I heard John and Emily chime in.
So I'm going to give each of them two points. So far, John, you are in third place with eight.
Oof.

Speaker 4 Travis is in second place with 10. And Emily is in the lead with 14.

Speaker 2 Oh, boy. Okay.

Speaker 2 There's still plenty of time. I'm just glad I'm still in it.
More questions about Star Trek and Final Fantasy, please. I know.
Those are the ones that I dread.

Speaker 1 So, this next one, we're not going to play it all at once. We're going to play one sound at a time to see if it can be guessed.

Speaker 3 Sounds number 13, part one.

Speaker 1 There it is.

Speaker 2 Oh, it's Space Invaders?

Speaker 1 It is not. Play the second sound.

Speaker 3 Sounds number 13, part two.

Speaker 2 Any, Anything?

Speaker 2 Pong? Oh, that's it.

Speaker 1 Oh my god, I got a video game one.

Speaker 2 Wow!

Speaker 2 Play that third sound.

Speaker 3 Sounds number 13, part three.

Speaker 2 Yeah.

Speaker 1 Can you play them all together?

Speaker 2 Wow, Emily. I'm so proud of that one.
This is my favorite one I've gotten so far.

Speaker 4 Emily did not come here to play around.

Speaker 2 I can't tell you how terrified I was today. I still am.
I did come here to play around. I think I might have misunderstood.

Speaker 1 I thought this was the game.

Speaker 2 Emily was listening to Pong all night last night.

Speaker 1 So those are the sound effects from the 1972 game, Pong, and they were created by Alan Alcorn, an engineer at Atari. The sounds from Pong come from the actual circuitry of the game itself.

Speaker 1 The hardware was already making those beeps and buzzes, so Alan used those for the game's sound effects.

Speaker 2 It shouldn't make those noise. Like,

Speaker 2 I'm not, like, a science person, but if you're playing a game and it's buzzing on its own,

Speaker 2 you might want to check it. We don't know why it's doing that.
Let's just build it into the game. Yeah, right.

Speaker 3 Sounds number 14.

Speaker 2 The ho!

Speaker 2 This has to be like a flash game or something.

Speaker 2 Homer Simpson in a blender.

Speaker 2 Homer Simpson falling downstairs. That's great.
That's a great guess.

Speaker 2 Oh.

Speaker 2 Outtakes from the Yahoo recording session.

Speaker 2 Was I close on the flash game thing?

Speaker 2 No. Oh, game part.

Speaker 1 So you did get that part.

Speaker 2 Oh, wait, that's Banjo-Kazooie.

Speaker 2 That's it. That's right.
Wow. What in the world even is that? Well, Banjo-Kazooie were two friends.
Banjo's a big bear. Kazooie was the bird who stayed in his backpack.

Speaker 2 And together, they went on adventures and they could use their different abilities to get you through a world of fun.

Speaker 2 I love it.

Speaker 2 You've sold me.

Speaker 4 Perfect description. Unlikely animal friends.

Speaker 2 I think that they were also Sega. Were they Sega? I think they were NKIN.
N64.

Speaker 2 Yeah. Was it Rare? Rare.
Yep.

Speaker 1 So both of these characters were voiced by the same person, Chris. Sutherland, a programmer who worked on the game.
Chris also voiced nearly every character in Donkey Kong 64, including Diddy Kong,

Speaker 1 Lanky Kong,

Speaker 1 and King K Rule.

Speaker 2 Actually, the video

Speaker 2 console was just making those noises anyway, and they decided to

Speaker 2 the game.

Speaker 2 Yeah, his consciousness was already trapped inside each console, so we just decided to use it.

Speaker 3 Sound number 15:

Speaker 2 Sawing a log, but recorded from the inside. Running on a treadmill.
Wow. What?

Speaker 2 I said sawing a log, but recorded from the inside. The log is wet.
And I said running on a treadmill, but inside. And the treadmill's wet.

Speaker 2 A clown running.

Speaker 4 I will say Travis was close with a clown running. A little.

Speaker 2 A little close. You're warm.

Speaker 1 Wet shoes? Technically walking, but it is a character.

Speaker 2 Is it Krusty? Krusty the Clown walking?

Speaker 1 Not Krusty the Clown. So you can always hear this character walking.
Wet shoes would be accurate in this case.

Speaker 2 Harry from Harry and the Hendersons.

Speaker 1 Should I do hint number two?

Speaker 4 Yeah.

Speaker 1 Absorbent and yellow and porous is he.

Speaker 2 SpongeBob.

Speaker 2 That's it. SpongeBob walking.

Speaker 2 Nice.

Speaker 1 So those are the iconic squeaky footsteps of SpongeBob SquarePants. The sound design team created those using a high balloon squeak, a low balloon creak,

Speaker 1 which alternate from left to right.

Speaker 2 Cool.

Speaker 1 Sound designer Jeff Hutchins created Squidward's squishy steps just by making a funny sound with his mouth that sounds like this.

Speaker 2 That's a good one. That's a good one.

Speaker 2 It's a good funny mouth sound. Very cool.

Speaker 3 Sounds number 16.

Speaker 1 You're dead, Jolly Man.

Speaker 2 Oh, that's Ruffio from Hook. Ding, ding, ding, ding.
Welcome.

Speaker 2 God.

Speaker 2 Yeah, would have never guessed. Love that movie.
A classic. Jamie, Ruffy.
Oh, yeah. Dante Basco, incredible.

Speaker 1 So that is a line from the 1991 movie Hook.

Speaker 1 In this scene, the character Ruffio swings his sword so close to Robin Williams' face that Steven Spielberg opted to film the scene in reverse to avoid any accidents.

Speaker 1 Actor Dante Basco had to learn to say the line backwards so that his mouth movements would look right when the shot was played forwards.

Speaker 1 So here's a behind-the-scenes clip of the actors talking about it years later.

Speaker 1 That's crazy.

Speaker 2 Very cool.

Speaker 1 We only have two sounds left. So, where are we on points?

Speaker 2 Okay.

Speaker 4 John, you are in third place with eight points. Oh, boy.
And in the lead, we have a tie between Travis and Emily at 17.

Speaker 2 Oh, so there's, I don't have a chance now.

Speaker 2 Okay. John, you're working with me now, bud.

Speaker 2 Get over here. You're on my team.
John is absorbed. John, if I win, we win, bud.

Speaker 3 Sound number 17.

Speaker 2 Excellent. Law and order.
Ah, you were right. Law and order.

Speaker 2 I got so excited. I got so excited.

Speaker 2 You are absolutely correct.

Speaker 1 So that is the law and order done done. And to create this, composer Mike Post sampled a jail door clanging,

Speaker 1 a guy hitting an anvil with a hammer,

Speaker 1 and some drum noises.

Speaker 1 To add more oomph, Mike found a recording of 100 men stomping on a wooden floor in Japan and added that in.

Speaker 2 Somebody should have told him about instruments.

Speaker 1 So Dick Wolf, the creator of Law and Order, loved it so much, and it became the iconic crime drama sound that we know and love today.

Speaker 1 Okay, so we're down to the very last one. We're making great time here.
Where are we with points? Because that's important.

Speaker 4 Okay, so with the last sound that we played, Emily got full points. So she is now at 20.
Travis is at 17. John is at 8.

Speaker 2 Well, with John and I together, it's 25. Right, exactly.
I was going to say, this last question is worth a bonus 25 points, right?

Speaker 1 Exactly.

Speaker 2 I still got a shot.

Speaker 2 Oh, man.

Speaker 4 There's still time.

Speaker 1 So we're going to also play this out in phases.

Speaker 3 Sound number 18, part one.

Speaker 2 Oh!

Speaker 2 Willem scream?

Speaker 2 Oh my goodness gracious.

Speaker 1 Oh, we have a big tie and we don't have another. Wait, was that a three-pointer? No.

Speaker 2 That was in last place. I'm sorry.

Speaker 2 Wow, Dallas, all in the moon.

Speaker 2 Was that too little, too late?

Speaker 2 You could have given it to me, John.

Speaker 2 Did you know it, Travis? No, but you could have told me. You could have said, like, hey, Travis, say Wilhelm Scream.

Speaker 1 So that is the world-famous Wilhelm scream. It's been used in hundreds of movies like Batman, Star Wars, Indiana Jones, Toy Story, tons more.

Speaker 1 The person that we all believe voiced that was someone named Sheb Woolley on the set of the movie Distant Drums.

Speaker 1 And there are a number of takes recorded on the Warner Brothers soundstage for this scream.

Speaker 1 Sheb made a few initial attempts, including the one we just played, before letting out the one that would become famous. And we have the whole clip.

Speaker 2 There it is. Yeah, I mean, they really, I'm glad they kept going.
They did pick the right one.

Speaker 2 What I love about it, it has a quality of simultaneous, like abject terror, but also kind of falling over, right?

Speaker 2 And not like falling off a cliff, but like you got really scared and so scared that you lost your balance and kind of started to fall over. Like you've lost control halfway through the scream.

Speaker 2 Yeah, right.

Speaker 2 Yeah, there's like a flip to falsetto or whatever in the middle of it. That's right.
Like you're kind of surprised in the middle of it. Like, oh,

Speaker 2 yes.

Speaker 1 The other thing that Sheb Woolley is famous for, though, is that he was the singer on Purple People Eater, that song.

Speaker 2 Oh, wow.

Speaker 2 Oh, you're saying he was the singer, not the Purple People Eater.

Speaker 2 Yeah, he was the singer. The Purple People Eater has the voice of a chipmunk in the song.
That's not the reason that I came to land. I want to get a job in a rock and movie.

Speaker 1 So Grace, who won this whole thing?

Speaker 4 So Emily is going to be defending her title with a total of 20 points.

Speaker 2 Wow.

Speaker 2 Well done.

Speaker 1 Congratulations.

Speaker 2 Thank you.

Speaker 1 Just saying, the sound designer, very proud.

Speaker 2 Thank you.

Speaker 2 Now, if Emily should become disgraced in any way, do I step up and take over? Is this like a Miss America kind of thing?

Speaker 2 Of course. Okay.
She'll keep the seat warm for you. I'll stay sharp just in case.
Not that I'm saying anything's going to happen to Emily.

Speaker 2 I'm just saying.

Speaker 1 20,000 Hertz is produced out of the sound design studios of De Facto Sound. This episode was written and produced by Casey Emmerling.

Speaker 4 With help from Grace East.

Speaker 1 It was sound designed and mixed by Brandon Pratt. And Joel Boyd.
Thanks to our guests, Emily Jankowski, John Lagermarcino, and Travis McElroy.

Speaker 1 They're all fantastic podcasters whose shows include Endless Thread, Underunderstood, My Brother, My Brother and Me, and many more. You can find more details in the show notes.

Speaker 1 And a special thanks to voice artist Allie Murphy for her amazing performance as the announcer on this episode.

Speaker 1 I'm Dallas Taylor, and from all of us here at 20,000Hz, have a great holiday season, and we'll see you next year.