Twenty Thousand Hertz
A lovingly crafted podcast that reveals the stories behind the world's most recognizable and interesting sounds.
Episodes
June 26, 2024 • 22 mins
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 whistles both strange and familiar.
Sign up for Twenty Thousand Hertz+ to get our entire catalog ad-free.
If you know what this week's mystery sound is, tell us at mystery.20k.org.
Follow Dallas on Instagram, TikTok and LinkedIn.
Watch our v...
Mark as Played
May 29, 2024 • 41 mins
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 journey through history’s most famous nursery rhymes and lullabies, and up through the “Baby Sharks” and “Happy Songs” of today. Along the way, they share the songs they’ve made up for their own children, and explore why this music is just ...
Mark as Played
May 22, 2024 • 24 mins
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 sounds of human activity can be absolutely devastating. With underwater noise pollution on the rise, what can we do to ensure the survival of these amazing creatures? Featuring acoustician Al Jones, Professor John Hildebrand of the Scri...
Mark as Played
May 8, 2024 • 23 mins
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 wasn’t easy. To make it, the creative team went through thousands of iterations, executed a covert marketing strategy, and fought through a final debate about a single note. Featuring Roscoe Williamson and Aifric Lennon from MassiveMusic...
Mark as Played
April 17, 2024 • 26 mins
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 Late Night with Seth Meyers to life. Along the way, Fred reveals the highs and lows of working on a high-adrenaline, live-to-tape TV show, and shares some never-heard recordings from his years on the show.
Sign up for Twenty Thousand He...
Mark as Played
April 3, 2024 • 29 mins
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 window, but that you wouldn’t want to go out in? For this episode, we worked with Babbel to bring you our second annual Untranslatable Words challenge. In it, resident linguist Grace East pits the Twenty Thousand Hertz crew against each o...
Mark as Played
March 20, 2024 • 47 mins
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, Hans Zimmer’s incredible team pulls back the curtain to reveal their extraordinary creative process, and uncover the secrets behind the otherworldly music of Dune. Featuring Raul Vega, Taurees Habib, Suzanne Waters, Tina Guo, and Steve Ma...
Mark as Played
March 6, 2024 • 28 mins
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. The first is a hidden sound installation in Times Square that might be the most visited art exhibit on Earth. The second is an enormous organ built right into the rock of an ancient Virginian cave. These stories originally aired on the...
Mark as Played
February 28, 2024 • 26 mins
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 tones. So how and why did this change happen? For this episode, we worked with OnePlus to tell the story of our collective obsession with bass, and the one device that transformed the sound of popular music. Featuring hip-hop legend DJ Jaz...
Mark as Played
February 21, 2024 • 31 mins
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 songs about the company and its products. And while this music was never intended for the general public, once you hear it for yourself, you might just get hooked. This is a story about bathroom remodeling, corporate art, and one man’s ob...
Mark as Played
January 24, 2024 • 26 mins
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 experimentation and revision. In this episode, we chart the evolution of Hulu’s sonic branding across 5 unique sonic logos. Along the way, the creative team shares unused alternate versions for the first time, and breaks down how they ...
Mark as Played
January 17, 2024 • 2 mins
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 someone you know would love the show.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Mark as Played
December 13, 2023 • 45 mins
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 get ready to play along. Featuring Travis McElroy, John Lagomarsino and Emily Jankowski.
Follow Dallas on Instagram, TikTok and LinkedIn.
Watch our video shorts on YouTube, and join the discussion on Reddit and Facebook.
Sign up for Tw...
Mark as Played
November 29, 2023 • 26 mins
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 history of technological innovation. In this episode, we partnered with BandLab to unpack four inventions that changed music forever. Featuring author and journalist Greg Milner.
Follow Dallas on Instagram, TikTok and LinkedIn.
Watch our...
Mark as Played
November 15, 2023 • 25 mins
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 this episode, we cut through all of the gobbledygook, and break down the ins and outs of headphones to help you find your perfect pair. Featuring Wirecutter’s resident headphone expert Lauren Dragan.
Follow Dallas on Instagram, TikTok an...
Mark as Played
November 1, 2023 • 23 mins
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, crave and remember their products. In this episode, we take a whirlwind tour through the sounds of persuasion. This story was adapted from Under the Influence with Terry O’Reilly.
Follow Dallas on Instagram, TikTok and LinkedIn.
Watch ...
Mark as Played
October 18, 2023 • 25 mins
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 that have been designed from scratch. And once self-driving cars start to take over, there will be an even bigger need for creative and intuitive sound design. In this episode, we explore the future of car sounds with Audio UX Co-Founder ...
Mark as Played
October 4, 2023 • 21 mins
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 despite how widely-known this sound is, lots of people still don’t know its surprising origin story. To set the record straight, we’ve remixed one of our classic, early episodes. Featuring Steve Lee, sound designer, film historian, and creat...
Mark as Played
September 20, 2023 • 29 mins
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 episode, we wade into the murky waters of The Great Dialogue Debate, and maybe, just maybe, find a solution. Featuring Production Sound Mixer Tom Curley and Slashfilm Senior Writer Ben Pearson.
Follow Dallas on Instagram, TikTok and Link...
Mark as Played
September 6, 2023 • 25 mins
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: Fury Road, Dune, and tons more. In this episode, Mark joins us to count down six of our favorite sonic moments from his career, and reveals the secrets behind how these iconic sounds were made. This episode was made in partnership with...
Mark as Played
Popular Podcasts
The Podium: An NBC Olympic and Paralympic podcast. Join us for insider coverage during the intense competition at the 2024 Paris Olympic and Paralympic Games. In the run-up to the Opening Ceremony, we’ll bring you deep into the stories and events that have you know and those you'll be hard-pressed to forget.
In The Village will take you into the most exclusive areas of the 2024 Paris Olympic Games to explore the daily life of athletes, complete with all the funny, mundane and unexpected things you learn off the field of play. Join Elizabeth Beisel as she sits down with Olympians each day in Paris.
Listen to the latest news from the 2024 Olympics.
The 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris are here and have everyone talking. iHeartPodcasts is buzzing with content in honor of the 33rd Olympic Games and you can follow Paris Summer Games to stay up to date on all things Olympics. We’re bringing you episodes from a variety of iHeartPodcast shows to help you keep up with the action. Follow Paris Summer Games so you don’t miss any coverage of the 2024 Olympic Games, and if you like what you hear, be sure to follow each Podcast in the feed for more great content from iHeartPodcasts.
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations.