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Twenty Thousand Hertz
Twenty Thousand Hertz
Dallas Taylor

The stories behind the world’s most iconic and fascinating sounds.

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Episodes

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... more

18 Jun 2025 · 34 minutes
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... more

28 May 2025 · 46 minutes
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... more

14 May 2025 · 31 minutes
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... more

30 Apr 2025 · 31 minutes
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... more

16 Apr 2025 · 44 minutes
Inside Apple: Sonic Accessibility

If you want to know where the future of sound is headed, accessibility is a great place to look. And... more

02 Apr 2025 · 36 minutes
“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,... more

19 Mar 2025 · 27 minutes
“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,... more

05 Mar 2025 · 46 minutes
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... more

19 Feb 2025 · 37 minutes
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... more

05 Feb 2025 · 32 minutes
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... more

22 Jan 2025 · 38 minutes
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... more

04 Dec 2024 · 47 minutes
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.... more

20 Nov 2024 · 42 minutes
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... more

20 Nov 2024 · 41 minutes
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... more

23 Oct 2024 · 30 minutes
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.... more

09 Oct 2024 · 33 minutes
"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... more

25 Sep 2024 · 30 minutes
Lofi Girl: The story behind 📚 beats to relax/study to Girl

The Lofi Girl YouTube channel has over 14 millions subscribers, and at any given time, tens of thousands of people... more

28 Aug 2024 · 34 minutes
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... more

21 Aug 2024 · 23 minutes
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... more

14 Aug 2024 · 29 minutes
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... more

31 Jul 2024 · 30 minutes
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... more

26 Jun 2024 · 25 minutes
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... more

29 May 2024 · 46 minutes
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... more

22 May 2024 · 27 minutes
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... more

08 May 2024 · 26 minutes
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... more

17 Apr 2024 · 29 minutes
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... more

03 Apr 2024 · 26 minutes
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... more

20 Mar 2024 · 49 minutes
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... more

06 Mar 2024 · 31 minutes
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... more

28 Feb 2024 · 24 minutes
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... more

21 Feb 2024 · 34 minutes
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... more

24 Jan 2024 · 29 minutes
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... more

17 Jan 2024 · 2 minutes
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.... more

13 Dec 2023 · 48 minutes
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... more

29 Nov 2023 · 25 minutes
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... more

15 Nov 2023 · 28 minutes
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... more

01 Nov 2023 · 26 minutes
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

18 Oct 2023 · 28 minutes
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... more

04 Oct 2023 · 24 minutes
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... more

20 Sep 2023 · 32 minutes
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,... more

06 Sep 2023 · 23 minutes
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... more

23 Aug 2023 · 31 minutes
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... more

09 Aug 2023 · 33 minutes
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... more

26 Jul 2023 · 27 minutes
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”... more

21 Jun 2023 · 28 minutes
The secret history of “Take Me Out to the Ball Game”

Baseball fan or not, there’s one song that virtually every American knows… or at least, we think we do. “Take... more

07 Jun 2023 · 36 minutes
Vocal Stratosphere: The world’s most extreme singing techniques

Our vocal system is incredibly complex. What we call “the voice” starts with very precise movements of our vocal cords,... more

24 May 2023 · 39 minutes
Bug Translation Guide: Decoding Buzzes, Chirps, & Clicks

Why do bugs make the sounds they do? And how do they make them? In this episode, we explore the... more

10 May 2023 · 30 minutes
Breathe Deep: How I lost my passion and found my purpose

In honor of Mental Health Awareness month, we’ve revamped one of the most personal episodes we’ve ever worked on. To... more

28 Apr 2023 · 47 minutes
The Spatial Race & the forgotten genius who invented stereo

In the 1960s, stereo sound revolutionized the music industry. But it turns out, a pioneering engineer named Alan Blumlein had... more

19 Apr 2023 · 31 minutes
Found In Translation: Guess That Meaning!

Have you ever seen something so cute that you just wanted to squeeze it? Have you ever felt sleepy after... more

12 Apr 2023 · 25 minutes
Why insurance jingles never die

For decades, the jingle was king. But in the last twenty years, jingles have nearly gone extinct. Many brands have... more

22 Mar 2023 · 39 minutes
Soundalikes: The secret voice behind Toy Story’s Woody

“Soundalikes,” also called “voice doubles,” are voice actors who perform as characters that were originally played by someone else. They’re... more

08 Mar 2023 · 33 minutes
Golden: Finding silence in a world of noise

In a noisy, tumultuous world, how can we find inner peace? This episode features two stories about the transformative power... more

22 Feb 2023 · 37 minutes
Recalculating: The surprising lives of GPS voices

The voices inside our navigation systems are with us nearly every day. They frustrate us when they lead us astray,... more

25 Jan 2023 · 34 minutes
Endless Hertz: Guess That Sound! w/ Endless Thread

In our third annual Mystery Sound Game Show, the crew from Endless Thread compete to guess the most sounds from... more

14 Dec 2022 · 56 minutes
Synth Showdown: Digital vs. Analog

In the 1960s, Bob Moog and Don Buchla built synthesizers that changed the world. But by the early 80s, they... more

16 Nov 2022 · 27 minutes
Synth Showdown: Moog vs. Buchla

In the United States, the East Coast and West Coast have rivalries across food, sports, music and more. But there’s... more

02 Nov 2022 · 28 minutes
A Thousand Words: Audio description for all!

Audio description allows you to enjoy a movie or TV show without the need for any visuals. But how do... more

19 Oct 2022 · 32 minutes
The Booj Strikes Back: Why all modern trailers sound the same

In the 80s and 90s, movie trailers were ruled by “voice-of-God” narrators who used stock phrases like, “In a world…”... more

05 Oct 2022 · 29 minutes
The weird, wild world of 1-900 numbers

In the late 80s and early 90s, 900 numbers were all the rage. For a couple bucks a minute, you... more

21 Sep 2022 · 39 minutes
Tokyo Rose: World War II’s most controversial radio DJ

In World War II, the Japanese military operated a propaganda station called Radio Tokyo. Along with jazz music, the station... more

07 Sep 2022 · 29 minutes
TikTalk: The woman who sued TikTok for using her voice

In 2018, voiceover artist Bev Standing recorded 10,000 sentences for the Chinese Institute of Acoustics. Bev was told the recordings... more

24 Aug 2022 · 33 minutes
The sonic secrets behind Ted Lasso

Ted Lasso is about more than just an incompetent soccer coach—it’s about overcoming challenges by working together. And that’s exactly... more

10 Aug 2022 · 35 minutes
Sonic Happiness: A guide to feeling better through sound

We spend a lot of time curating for taste, touch, smell, and vision. But too often, sound gets overlooked. We... more

27 Jul 2022 · 48 minutes
Shock Horror A: The origin of the dramatic “Dun, dun, duuun!”

There’s a certain musical phrase that you’ve probably heard hundreds of times. It’s used to emphasize dramatic moments in movies,... more

13 Jul 2022 · 32 minutes
Sleight of Ear: Behind the scenes w/ Dallas Taylor

What does a sound designer do all day? How do noise canceling headphones really work? And why do modern movie... more

06 Jul 2022 · 30 minutes
Breathe: My Unexpected Journey

What if you woke up one day, and found that you could no longer do the thing that gave you... more

22 Jun 2022 · 37 minutes
Relearning Boléro: How our brains rewrite the sounds we hear

In the same way that optical illusions can trick our eyes, auditory illusions can trick our ears. This raises a... more

08 Jun 2022 · 43 minutes
Ghosts in the Hit Machine: The secrets of musical ghostwriters

Many of today’s biggest songs are written and produced by people whose names don’t appear anywhere in the credits. They’re... more

25 May 2022 · 32 minutes
Why Windows Got Rid of Startup Sounds

Part 2 of our series on the Windows startup sounds picks up when Microsoft made the radical decision to kill... more

11 May 2022 · 37 minutes
Ta-da! The history of Windows’ classic startup sounds

Over the years, Microsoft has made at least ten iconic startup sounds for Windows—from the triumphant “Ta-da!” of Windows 3.1,... more

27 Apr 2022 · 31 minutes
The Waterphone: Hollywood’s spookiest sound effect

For nearly half a century, one eerie sound has been showing up again and again in movies and TV shows.... more

13 Apr 2022 · 29 minutes
Mind the Gap: NYC & London’s iconic transit voices

The voices of subway and train announcements are deeply ingrained in peoples’ lives. Many of us hear them every day,... more

30 Mar 2022 · 37 minutes
Hidden Hitmakers: The unsung heroes behind pop’s biggest hits

The names of pop and rock stars are known by millions of people around the world, but the people who... more

16 Mar 2022 · 36 minutes
Happy Little Episode: The soothing voice of Bob Ross

In the forty years since The Joy of Painting first started airing, Bob Ross has become a cultural icon. His... more

02 Mar 2022 · 46 minutes
Pirate Radio: Britain’s AM rebels of the ’60s

In the 1960s, the BBC had a vise grip on British radio, and rarely played the pop and rock music... more

16 Feb 2022 · 38 minutes
Being Dallas Taylor: Meeting my name twins

Your name is so much more than the sound that people call you by. It’s an entire human identity, distilled... more

02 Feb 2022 · 45 minutes
Sul Sul! Behind the gibberish language of The Sims

When The Sims was first being developed, the creators faced a problem. They knew they wanted these characters to talk... more

19 Jan 2022 · 30 minutes
Aural Exam: Guess That Sound! w/ Underunderstood

For our second annual Mystery Sound competition, we’ve rounded up the 20 best sounds from the past year, and invited... more

15 Dec 2021 · 43 minutes
The Static Angel: How HBO perfected its sonic identity

In part 2 of our series on HBO, we explore the tough questions that the company faced in the digital... more

01 Dec 2021 · 31 minutes
It’s Not TV: Behind HBO’s legendary sounds

In the 1980s, every movie that aired on HBO began with a truly epic theme song—a sweeping orchestral piece that... more

17 Nov 2021 · 28 minutes
One simple trick scientists say will stop snoring

If you’re a human being, chances are, you know someone who is a big time snorer. You're falling asleep to... more

10 Nov 2021 · 45 minutes
Creature Speakers: The art of voicing monsters

To give voices to the frightening monsters in movies, TV shows, and video games, sound designers often start with animal... more

27 Oct 2021 · 32 minutes
How blind gamers are changing the world of video games

In the past, video games were largely inaccessible to people with visual impairments. But these days, game makers are adding... more

13 Oct 2021 · 30 minutes
Sports Without Sight: The sound-driven world of blind athletes

Playing a sport without sight might sound impossible. But it turns out, there are blind athletes all around the world... more

29 Sep 2021 · 27 minutes
Sound Cinema: Experiencing film through audio description

When Matthew Shifrin was growing up, his blindness meant that trying to enjoy a movie or TV show was often... more

15 Sep 2021 · 32 minutes
Sonic Bubbles: Escaping noise, but at what cost?

For over a century, humans have been using technology to shape our sonic environment. White noise machines, nature recordings, noise... more

01 Sep 2021 · 29 minutes
Domestic Symphony: Why your dryer has a theme song

Not long ago, our home appliances made nothing but abrasive beeps and harsh buzzes. In recent years though, these devices... more

18 Aug 2021 · 27 minutes
The mysterious “Windsor Hum” is finally solved!

In 2011, residents of Windsor, Ontario started experiencing a strange rumbling hum that rattled dishes and kept people awake at... more

04 Aug 2021 · 19 minutes
The Buzzer: Are there secret spy messages on the radio?

Since World War I, countries around the world have been broadcasting mysterious numerical messages via shortwave radio. Though concrete evidence... more

21 Jul 2021 · 36 minutes
Stay Tuned: The new voices of the Looney Tunes

Nearly a century after they first appeared, the Looney Tunes are back in an all-new series. To bring this iconic... more

07 Jul 2021 · 31 minutes
Inside the Foley Prop Room: Frozen, Jurassic Park & more

In part 2 of our exploration of Foley, the Warner Brothers Foley team takes us into the all-important prop room.... more

23 Jun 2021 · 26 minutes
The Art of Foley: Bringing Slimer & Batman to life

When it comes to film sound, "Foley Artist" might be the most important job you've never heard of. These performers... more

09 Jun 2021 · 26 minutes
Leaky Pipeline: The fight that revolutionized cinema sound

In the late 80s, a small French company found a way to pair analog film with pristine digital audio. But... more

26 May 2021 · 30 minutes
Auditory Icons: Credit card beeps to driverless car melodies

We live in a designed world, and alert tones are no exception. Every beep and ping that your phone or... more

19 May 2021 · 16 minutes
Progression Obsession: Pop music’s most used chord changes

There are a few specific chord progressions that show up again and again in popular music. Across hundreds of hit... more

12 May 2021 · 31 minutes
SM7: The mic that shaped sound and culture

Since their founding almost a century ago, Shure has created some of the most iconic microphones ever made. In this... more

28 Apr 2021 · 22 minutes
The Sound of Minecraft: A melancholy masterpiece w/ C418

Since its official release in 2011, Minecraft has grown from a small, experimental indie game into the best-selling video game... more

14 Apr 2021 · 29 minutes
20th Century Fox Fanfare: A family legacy

The melodic fanfare that introduces every 20th Century Fox movie was first composed almost a hundred years ago. Since then,... more

24 Mar 2021 · 30 minutes
Sonic Weapons: How “sound cannons” are used for control

The Long-Range Acoustic Device, or LRAD, was developed for the military for long-range communication at sea. But this ear-splitting device... more

10 Mar 2021 · 26 minutes
I'm Lovin’ It: How “Ba da ba ba ba” took over the world

Since its introduction in 2003, the McDonald’s “I’m Lovin’ It” jingle has become one of the most recognizable melodies in... more

24 Feb 2021 · 28 minutes
The Physics of Sound w/ Bill Nye the Science Guy

What is sound, on a fundamental level? How did animals evolve to hear? And what happens when you go faster than sound... more

27 Jan 2021 · 28 minutes
Seeing Sounds, Tasting Names: The world of synesthesia

Synesthesia is a neurological condition where one sensory experience gets combined with another, meaning someone might hear sounds when they... more

13 Jan 2021 · 31 minutes
Sing Gently: Singing together, even when apart

After composer Eric Whitacre finished Virtual Choir number 5 in 2018, he thought the project might be done for good.... more

16 Dec 2020 · 38 minutes
The Song Hunter: How Alan Lomax saved the sounds of America

Alan Lomax believed that the culture of poor Americans was important and worthy of saving. So he spent decades traveling... more

09 Dec 2020 · 30 minutes
From Klingon to Dothraki: How sci-fi languages shape worlds

Sci-fi and fantasy creators often use constructed languages (or conlangs) to help us believe that the characters come from ancient... more

02 Dec 2020 · 31 minutes
Space Audity: The challenges of space communication

We've all heard the iconic recordings from the Apollo missions. But how exactly does NASA manage to run live audio... more

18 Nov 2020 · 27 minutes
Sonic Utopia: Can we build a better sounding world?

Technology has the power to transform the way our world sounds. It could even give us entirely new ways to... more

11 Nov 2020 · 30 minutes
The Cyborg, The Scientist, and the Death of Silence

Sound surrounds us, even in the quietest moments. But depending on how we hear, the world can be a different... more

28 Oct 2020 · 54 minutes
Dies Irae: The death melody haunting Hollywood

For hundreds of years, composers have been using a specific four-note melody to evoke death. It's appeared in dozens of... more

21 Oct 2020 · 32 minutes
Perfect Pitch: Unlocking Jacob Collier’s musical brilliance

People with perfect or "absolute" pitch hear every single sound as precise musical notes. Is this extraordinary talent a blessing... more

14 Oct 2020 · 32 minutes
Tyrannosaurus FX: What dinosaurs really sounded like

When you imagine the sound of a dinosaur, you probably think of a scene from the Jurassic Park movies. How... more

07 Oct 2020 · 29 minutes
Napster: How free music broke the industry

In less than two years, Napster became a global sensation... and then record labels and multi-platinum artists brought it crashing... more

30 Sep 2020 · 42 minutes
Vocal Discords: When nodules silence singers

Musicians like Justin Timberlake, Adele, Björk and Rod Stewart have all had surgery to treat vocal nodes. Nodes are so... more

16 Sep 2020 · 27 minutes
Deepfake Dallas: How AI learned to speak like me

Using artificial intelligence, someone can make an algorithm that sounds just like you. And then they can say... whatever they... more

02 Sep 2020 · 27 minutes
The Weight of Noise: One writer’s struggle in New York City

When writer Paige Towers moved to one of the loudest cities in the world, she found herself overcome with anxiety... more

19 Aug 2020 · 28 minutes
Tudum! The story behind the iconic Netflix sound

The Netflix "Tudum" sound has quickly become one of the most iconic sound logos of our generation. I bet you... more

05 Aug 2020 · 27 minutes
McElroys, Mysteries, and Me: Guess That Sound! w/ MBMBAM

Join Dallas and the McElroy brothers (hosts of My Brother, My Brother and Me) as they compete to see which brother... more

22 Jul 2020 · 47 minutes
Hamilton’s Sonic Secrets: Behind the Broadway phenomenon

Broadway’s award-winning, record-breaking, smash hit, Hamilton, is a musical unlike any other. In this special episode, we have re-voiced, remixed, and... more

08 Jul 2020 · 34 minutes
Twenty Thousand Hertz
McElroys, Mysteries, and Me: Guess That Sound! w/ MBMBAM
Twenty Thousand Hertz
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Description

Join Dallas and the McElroy brothers (hosts of My Brother, My Brother and Me) as they compete to see which brother has the... more