PRX · Science

Twenty Thousand Hertz

The stories behind the world's most recognizable and interesting sounds. Whether you're a professional audio engineer with decades of experience, a fourth grader who loves sound and music, or anyone in between, Twenty Thousand Hertz will help unlock your sonic world… from the sound design secrets of hit movies, to the sonic craft of jingles and device sounds, to the forgotten backstories of classic theme songs, to linguistic mysteries, psychoacoustics, video game music, animal communication, and beyond. With moving human stories, immersive sound design, and the guiding voice of host Dallas Taylor, 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 • Super Mario Bros: Koji Kondo's 8-Bit Masterpiece • Inside Hans Zimmer’s Remote Control Studios • A sonic journey through the Solar System • Mind the Gap: NYC & London’s iconic transit voices

Episodes

Radio dramas transformed 20th-century entertainment by leveraging audio to stimulate the listener's imagination, creating a "theater of the mind" that visual media could not replicate. Orson Welles’ 1938 War of the Worlds broadcast demonstrated the medium's power to blur reality and fiction, while subsequent decades sa...

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Twenty Thousand Hertz

Episodes

808: The drum machine that changed music forever

Soundmarks: AT&T, United Airlines, and inventive sonic branding

Deaf Gain: The promise and controversy of cochlear implants

Plants That Listen (and some that sing)

Sonic Illusions: Can you really trust your ears?

Mother of Dragons(sounds): Game of Thrones’ bittersweet sounds

Sound Escapes: Nature’s untouched soundtrack

The Voyager Golden Record: Humanity’s message to the cosmos

Bird Translation Guide: Decoding Tweets, Hoots, & Warbles

Phone Tones: The hidden language of phone number beeps

The Booj: The secret sound formula behind blockbuster trailers

Dining on Decibels: Why are restaurants so noisy?

Do Not Disturb: The unseen impacts of alarms and alerts

Blue! 42! How helmet radio changed the NFL

Silence: Dispatches from the quietest place on Earth

A sonic journey through the Solar System

Boots ’n Cats: The scientific secrets of beatboxing

Being George Clooney: Dubbing Hollywood celebrities

The Xbox Startup Sound: Crafting a console classic

Theater for the Mind: The Golden Age of radio dramas