Lastest Twenty Thousand Hertz Podcast: Sounds Worth Saving

 With only one episode left in the 2020 season for the Twenty Thousand Hertz podcast, the show rides into 2021 on a true podcast high. 

 Earlier this year, the podcast became part of the Ted Podcast Network, received its third consecutive Webby Award for the episode about Netflix's "Ta-dum" sound, and exceeded 15 million lifetime downloads.

This week, Twenty Thousand Hertz shares its penultimate episode of 2020, "Sounds Worth Saving," which celebrates the legacy of America's most famous music archivist, Alan Lomax. 

Listen here: https://www.20k.org/episodes/soundsworthsaving 

Artwork by Matt Fleming

 Next week, the podcast will release a remix of their beloved "Virtual Choir" episode with an all-new section about the recent Virtual Choir 6.

Dallas Taylor's TED Talk on John Cage's 4' 33" and the sounds we hear in silence garnered millions of views and was featured in a special collaboration with TED Radio Hour, while Twenty Thousand Hertz's insight on the sociopolitical implications of audio deepfakes brought Taylor to a timely appearance on NPR's Here & Now. In shifting to a weekly format this fall, the series entered its most active period since its inception, with episodes focusing on the future of space communication, how a medieval funeral chant called "Dies Irae" became a movie soundtrack staple, the misconceptions around perfect pitch (featuring Grammy-winner Jacob Collier), the real sounds of dinosaurs, and beyond. Earlier this year, the show explored the sonic world of Star Wars, the iconic Seinfeld theme song, and the hundreds of voices created by Looney Tunes legend Mel Blanc.

Throughout 2020, Taylor contributed to audio-centric conversations at the LA Times, Salon, Wall Street Journal and Washington Post, while Twenty Thousand Hertz's reporting was covered by Entertainment Weekly, Hollywood Reporter, IFLScience, IGN, Mashable, Popular Science, The Verge and many others. In naming Twenty Thousand Hertz in the Best Podcasts of 2020, Esquire UK noted, "given podcasting is an aural medium, you'd think more of them would be a bit more curious about the specifics of the sounds that they pipe into your brain."

Twenty Thousand Hertz is produced out of the studios of Defacto Sound, the go-to sound designers for brands like Disney, Google, National Geographic, Netflix, Nike, Ford and more.

Looking ahead to 2021,Twenty Thousand Hertz will cover stories about Bill Nye The Science Guy, stories about synesthesia, the sounds of legacy game Minecraft, the McDonald's "I'm lovin it" jingle, and the 20th Century Fox fanfare.

"Twenty Thousand Hertz has hit that inflection point," begins podcast consultant George Witt, "where its episodes are part of the national conversation. The podcast has made us all much more aware of the world of sound surrounding us and its unique properties.

"Listen to "Sounds Worth Saving," A Celebration of Alan Lomax Out Today

 

 Thanks to Greg Jakubik.

by

Frank Racioppi