Twenty Thousand Hertz Joins TED Family of Podcasts

Listen To Their 100th Episode, Revealing the Untold Story Behind the World's Most Recognizable Sonic Brand:

"Ta-Dum! It's Netflix"

 

Today, Twenty Thousand Hertz becomes the latest member in the TED family of podcasts, launching a global partnership to amplify the series's award-winning, multi-millions-downloaded stories behind the world's most recognizable and interesting sounds.

To accompany the announcement, Twenty Thousand Hertz has released its 100th episode, the never-before-told breakdown of the sonic brand of Netflix. Heard billions of times by viewers across the globe, Twenty Thousand Hertz host Dallas Taylor argues that the "ta-dum" played before Netflix original content is the most quintessential audio logo of our generation.

Through interviews with Netflix VP of Product Todd Yellin, Brand Design Lead Tanya Kumar, sound designer Lon Bender, and musician Charlie Campagna, Dallas demonstrates how the effect combines a wedding ring knocking against a wood cabinet, a slowed-down anvil, muted hits and a "blossom" of reversed guitar. But beneath the aural surface, these four seconds deliver a careful balance of brevity and expanse, building and releasing tension just like the arc of a story. Following a year of development the "ta-dum" has grown to fit any genre, but fans may be surprised to know that Netflix now has a second sonic logo, used for theatrical releases and created by Hans Zimmer.

Learn more and listen to "Ta-Dum! It's Netflix" here:

http://www.20k.org/episodes/netflix 

While Dallas Taylor and his team at Defacto Sound will continue to produce Twenty Thousand Hertz independently, TED will broadcast its content and creativity throughout their channels in a shared mission of Ideas Worth Spreading.

In both his work on Twenty Thousand Hertz and as Defacto Sound's Creative Director, leading thousands of projects for blockbuster trailers, global ad campaigns, award-winning films and TV series, Dallas Taylor is steadfast on his mission to elevate culture's collective, sonic consciousness to the same level as humanity's other four senses. As Esquire observed, when naming Twenty Thousand Hertz among the Best Podcasts of 2020, "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." The Guardian affirms Dallas's "love of everyday noises knows no bounds," and whether immediately recognizable or rarely noticed, he illustrates how the things we hear are just as powerful and nuanced as what we all love to see, taste, touch and smell.

Over the past year, Twenty Thousand Hertz has won back-to-back Webbys for Sound Design and Science/Education. In addition to Netflix, recent episodes have expanded the worlds of Hamilton, Star Wars, Looney Tunes, Seinfeld, Game of Thrones, Rock & Roll and more, but the series dives far deeper than entertainment. It's answered questions like, "What does outer Space sound like? How do our biologies and backgrounds influence how we process sound?" and "What do we actually hear in complete silence," while examining social issues such as the negative impact of shouting in restaurants and the endangering effects of alarms.

Earlier this spring, Dallas gave a TED Talk at the TED2020 conference, about John Cage's 4' 33" and the meaning of silence. He also contributed to conversations with The Wall Street Journal, Washington Post and LA Times, with Twenty Thousand Hertz recently featured in Entertainment Weekly, Nerdist, Boing Boing, Mental Floss and more.

 

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