Art by George Butler.
This episode was produced by Casey Emmerling and Grace East.
In our third annual Mystery Sound Game Show, the crew from Endless Thread compete to guess the most sounds from this year’s batch. Get ready to listen along and test your knowledge of classic sci-fi movies, strange animal calls, video game themes, UI sounds, and more. One thing is certain: It’s gonna get toasty.
MUSIC FEATURED IN THIS EPISODE
100 MHz by Waveshaper
Le Chasseur et les Fugitifs by Ludvig Moulin
Deck the Halls by Chad Lawson
Follow the show on Youtube, Instagram, TikTok, Reddit, Twitter, & Facebook.
Sign up for Twenty Thousand Hertz+ to support the show and get our entire catalog ad-free.
If you know what this week's mystery sound is, tell us at mystery.20k.org.
Subscribe to Endless Thread wherever you get your podcasts.
Get all the music gear you need at American Musical Supply using the code 20K.
Find patient reviewed doctors that meet your needs with Zocdoc.
Grow your business with an online shop via Shopify.
View Transcript ▶︎
You’re listening to Twenty Thousand Hertz.
[music in]
If you’re a regular listener, then you know about our Mystery Sound segment that we run in the middle of each episode. For those who don’t know, basically, we play a mysterious sound, and ask you to guess what it is. You can submit your guess, and if you’re right, you’re entered to win a super soft Twenty Thousand Hertz T shirt.
Then, for our final episode of the year, we compile all of these sounds and turn them into a game show, where some of our podcast friends compete to see who can guess the most sounds.
[sfx: correct sfx]
It was two years ago when we first launched our first Mystery Sound extravaganza. We had the McElroy brothers, from the show My Brother, My Brother, and Me. Last year, we brought on the crew from Underunderstood. And this time, we invited our friends from the podcast Endless Thread.
It’s the two hosts, Ben and Amory, along with their fantastic sound designer Emily. Our producer Grace was keeping score, and our Audio Director Jai ran the recording. As always, it was a ton of fun. So without further ado, here we go…
[music in]
Announcer: Welcome to the third annual Twenty Thousand Hertz Mystery Sound Throw Down. In this heated competition, three opponents will compete to become the ultimate Mystery Sound champion.
The rules are simple: Each sound has a maximum score of three points. If the correct answer is guessed without any hints, the guesser will earn all three. If one hint is given, the guesser will receive two points. If two hints are given, the guesser will earn only a single point.
Three players will enter, only one will emerge victorious.
Now, let the games begin.
[music out]
Amory: I'm—My palms are legitimately sweaty right now.
Grace: Oh no!
Amory: I’m feeling—
Ben: In fairness, Amory gets sweaty very easily.
Dallas: I get very uh… Anytime I'm not just reading from a script, I'm like, "Oh my goodness. This is like real radio announcers."
Amory: Ohhh.
Ben: You're an ace. Don't worry about it.
Amory: Alright, we're all sweaty. We're all nervous. We're all in this together.
Dallas: So, uh, why don't we just dive into this thing head first and see what happens? So sound number one.
[sfx: Fred Flintstone run]
Emily: I mean that’s a Road Runner, right?
Ben: No, I think it's like Barney or, uh, shoot. It's one of the…
Emily: Oh, oh. It's the F. It's Fred Flintstone!
Ben: Fred Flinstone?
Grace: Ding ding ding ding ding!
Ben: Yes!
Dallas: We don't have a, where's our ding, ding, ding? Did we have a ding, ding, ding last year?
Jai: Did I come ill prepared? I did not know about this ding ding ding.
Dallas: You know what? I think that we added that in post.
Amory: Yeah. You can add it in post.
[sfx: correct]
Dallas: Alright. So that is the sound of Fred Flintstone's scrambling feet.
[sfx: Fred Flintstone run]
Dallas: During the 1960s, the sound editing team at Hanna-Barbera created some of the most iconic cartoon sounds ever. The name of this one was the Temple Block Riot, which was created from a combination of percussion sounds [sfx: bongos] and of course, a temple block.
[sfx: temple block]
Ben: So cool.
Amory: Wow.
Emily: Man, old school Foley is so awesome.
Grace: Yeah.
Ben: See, I got the franchise, but Emily got the character, so what—
Grace: Emily, Emily nailed it.
Emily: I mean, not real—
Ben: I get no points for that? Come on!
Amory: Aw, I'd give you like two. And then Emily gets three.
Grace: Emily gets the full three. I'll allow it.
Emily: Oh man. This is where it all goes downhill from here for me. At the bowling alley, I like strike the first one and then it's gutter gutter gutter after that.
Emily: So just so you know.
Dallas: Alright, sound number two.
[sfx: Montreal subway chime]
Emily: Oh man I have no idea.
Ben: Dude.
Amory: Oh, that sounds like, um… Whether it's fictional or real. Like a news, uh sting? You know like bum bum bum?
Ben: I wanna say it's not Close Encounters of the Third Kind, but it has that sort of like iconic interval action.
Emily: Mmm hmm.
Dallas: Are there any Canadians here?
Amory: No, but is it like the CBC's uh, news…
Dallas: Well, hint number one. So if there are no Canadians, and if you haven't visited Canada, I don't think anybody's gonna get this, but hint number one.
Ben: I've visited.
Amory: I've visited! Yeah. Come on, Dallas!
Emily: You're basically Canadian.
Amory: Who among us hasn't visited Canada?
Ben: I've called people “hosers.”
Dallas: So hint number one, Canadian commuters and other public transit users may recognize.
Ben: Uh, Montreal. The Montreal line. [sfx: correct]
Ben: Yes!
Dallas: That's the chime that plays before the doors close on the Montreal Metro.
[sfx: Montreal subway chime]
Ben: Yes!
Amory: Ugh.
Grace: Well done.
Dallas: The sound was based on the tones that are produced by the traction motors of the MR-73 trains, obviously, which are still common in Montreal. Let's hear this motor sound.
[sfx: MR-73 train].
Dallas: Okay. That was not helpful at all.
Emily: I heard it in the background.
Ben: Yeah, I heard it too.
Amory: It was the ocean.
Dallas: You know, some things work and some things are edited out.
Emily: I heard it! I swear!
Ben: I did too!
Dallas: Oh you did?
Amory: Yeah, I heard, I heard the tone in the background.
Dallas: Oh okay.
Amory: Yeah.
Emily: Okay,
Ben: It's good.
Dallas: Well, I'll just not be so snarky.
Dallas: How about we go to sound number 3?
[sfx: Microsoft Clippy]
Amory: Whoa.
Dallas: That was a montage of sounds. So that is all of the sounds of this thing. Uh, that is not a hint.
Ben: I wanna say it's like an earlyish synthesizer instrument, and someone's demonstrating the different sounds. It's like an electric drum kit or something.
Dallas: Well, I'm gonna go with hint number one, too, because these sounds belong to a kind of digital mascot.
[sfx: Microsoft Clippy]
Emily: Ugh, I don’t know.
Ben: Oh man.
Amory: A digital mascot…
Emily: I just have no idea.
Amory: Is it like, is it like Clippy or something?
[sfx: correct]
Amory: Really!?
Emily: No way! Really?
Grace: Yes! Yes!
Dallas: That's it.
Amory: It's Clippy!
Ben: Amory got Clippy?
Grace: Well done, Amory!
Ben: I'm resigning. Get me outta here.
Emily: I, that crossed my mind, but I guess I've never heard Clippy in nice headphones before.
Ben: Me neither.
Grace: In all his glory.
Dallas: So here's my reveal spiel. Those sounds were made by Clippy, the divisive paperclip assistant who used to be in Microsoft Office. You won't see Clippy popping up with any suggestions anymore, but he's not completely gone. In 2021, Microsoft changed the paperclip emoji in Windows 11 to the image of Clippy.
Emily: He never helped me, that guy.
Ben: When he hit you with the eyebrows though.
Amory: Oh yeah. The floating eyebrows, no less.
Grace: When Clippy turned on the charm.
Dallas: All right. So we got Clippy. Um, I think that was two points, right?
Grace: It sure was. Yep.
Amory: A full two.
Ben: She's on the board, folks.
Grace: She’s on the board, folks!
Amory: Watch out!
Dallas: Well, let's get to this. Sound number four.
[sfx: Back to the Future Time Circuits]
Ben: Oh, dude.
Amory: Is that like a sound…
Ben: Star Trek.
Amory: Yeah, I was gonna say it's a Star Trek. I mean, the only ship I know from Star Trek is the Enterprise. So is it an Enterprise?
Ben: Is it an elevator in the Enterprise? The Enterprise Elevator?
Dallas: Is not from a space movie, but it is from a movie. I'm not even gonna count that as a hint cuz it's not on my cheat sheet.
[sfx: Back to the Future Time Circuits]
Emily: Not a space movie?
Dallas: Not a space movie.
Dallas: Sci-fi, yeah.
Ben: Not a space movie, but sci-fi.
Amory: There is no such thing!
Ben: Logan's Run. Something…
Dallas: So hint number one. Get ready. This can take you back to 1955. I mean, 1985. I mean, what year is it?
Ben: Oh, is it? Oh, it's, uh, it, dude, uh, Back to the Future! It's Back to the Future.
Dallas: You're in the movie, but what is it from the movie?
Ben: Oh man.
Amory: It's the time traveler. It’s the car.
Ben: Is it the Flux Capacitor?
Emily: Is it the door of the car?
Dallas: Oof! I feel like everyone is orbiting this very clearly.
Ben: Is it the part—Okay. this is gonna be so wrong, but I have to say—
Emily: It’s the shoes.
Ben: No.
Emily: Is it the shoes?
Ben: No, no, no, no. It's when he pours, it's like right after he puts the banana peel and the end of the Miller High Life beer into the… It's when the car comes back at the end of Back to the Future Part One, from the future, and he's closing the fuel cell up. That's my guess. And it's a terrible guess.
Dallas: I feel like we're gonna have to dole out some points here.
Grace: Yeah, Ben, I'm so impressed with that level of detail.
Dallas: Uh, okay. So, uh, that's the sound of the time circuits turning on inside the DeLorean in Back to the Future.
Ben: Time circuits…
Dallas: And so Jai's gonna play the sound in context.
[clip: Back to the Future]
Amory: My husband is never allowed to listen to this, cuz he'll just be heartbroken.
Ben: The divorce papers will come flying right out.
Emily: Oh no.
Amory: Just come home to the papers one day.
Amory: I mean, I did say the time machine.
Dallas: I know. This is why Grace is just gonna have to be very fair right now and uh, all eyes are on you.
Grace: Oh. You know what, I think everyone contributed to the success of this clue. I think everyone's gonna get one. How does that sound?
Ben: Yes!
Amory: Love it.
Ben: That seems fair.
Amory: Love it. Although really, Ben, thank you for getting us in the world of Back to the Future.
Emily: That's true.
Ben: You’re welcome.
Dallas: Uh, how about we go into, um, sound number five.
[sfx: Bear cubs purring]
Emily: This is an animal.
Amory: That's an animal. That's like, um…
Ben: It sounds like Chewy, but it’s not Chewy.
Amory: No. That's like Chewy underwater, but that's not a thing. So… Flipper! I'm just kidding.
Emily: Yeah. Is it a dolphin?
Ben: No, no no.
Amory: It’s a sick, very sick Flipper.
Dallas: So it is not a fictional monster. It is a real animal.
Ben: Oh, it’s a real animal.
Amory: Wow.
Emily: It feels real to me. Yeah.
Amory: Okay, if it’s real, that changes everything. Umm…
Emily: Can you play it again?
[sfx: Bear cubs purring]
Ben: It feels camel-like. I don't really know why I said that.
Amory: I'm going hippo, cuz there's some water. I'm feeling some water involved.
Emily: That did cross my mind.
Amory: I heard some bloop bloop bloop.
Dallas: I feel like you could almost just throw out all the animals that you know and probably get it at some point.
Amory: Right, I know. You're like, “It's actually an ant!”
Ben: Is it a goat or a sheep?
Dallas: It is none of those things. It is a mammal.
Amory: Ohhh.
Ben: Is it a whale?
Amory: Donkey.
Emily: Is it a funky cow sound?
Ben: Funky cow sound.
Emily: It's gotta be big… A bear? [sfx: correct]
Emily: Alright!
Ben: Wow!
Grace: Yeah!
Ben: Emily!
Emily: Hey hey hey!
Grace: Well done.
Dallas: That is a pack of purring black bears.
Emily: Oh, that's right, they purr!
Dallas: Just like cats, bears make this sound when they're very comfortable. For example, when they're nursing, or eating something that they really like. And they do this even as adults. Their purrs just get deeper.
Ben: That’s why I didn't recognize it. I've definitely never seen footage of any bear being happy.
Dallas: Well here’s the sound of an adult bear purr.
[sfx: purring bear]
Emily: It's like a nice soft motor.
Amory: Yeah, it's like a helicopter with a filter over it.
Dallas: It's exactly what digesting a human would sound like, in my mind.
Ben: Yeah, exactly. “Now that I've had the slowest camper, I feel like I can rest.”
Dallas: Okay. Alright, get ready cuz sound number six, I think, is gonna come on real fast and furious and, uh, get a lot of attention. So do we have sound six ready?
[sfx: Gracie Films logo]
Emily: The More You Know! The More You Know, baby.
Dallas: Nope.
Ben: No.
Emily: Agh, it's, it's after The Simpsons. It's after The Simpsons.
Ben: Oh. It's after. No wait. Is it after Seinfeld?
Emily: No, it's after The Simpsons for sure. I just don't know what it's called.
Amory: I wasn’t allowed to watch The Simpsons growing up.
Emily: Oh my god, Amory! I’m so sorry!
Ben: No! Is it the person in the theater? It's like a person in a movie theater?
Dallas: Mmm-hmm.
Dallas: And there's big words that come on the screen for the company.
Ben: Yeah. Is it GBH? Oh God. Is it PBS? No.
Emily: No, because it's the Simpsons, I'm telling you. So it's like, it's not, is it Fox?
Dallas: Just to rub it in, just play it again, Jai.
Emily: To rub it in!
[sfx: Gracie Films logo]
Emily: This is embarrassing, I feel like.
Ben: I know. It’s, ugh.
Amory: It sounds like it would be like The Learning Channel.
Emily: I know. That's why I guessed The More You Know, but The More You Know is...So, umm…
Ben: This is, I feel really badly about not knowing this.
Emily: Chris Christie's? Or, Oh no, I'm duh—I'm just throwing random.
Dallas: So, uh, you are correct that it does play at the very end of The Simpsons, but can you guess what film company this sonic logo is for?
Ben: Fox Searchlight. I don’t know.
Dallas: No.
Amory: No.
Ben: Sorry. I don't know anything.
Amory: But I don't have a, I don't have a better guess. So…
Ben: This is the part where thousands of Twenty Thousand Hertz listeners are throwing their beers at the…
Amory: Throwing their phones across the room.
Dallas: This is why I'm dragging this out so long.
Emily: This might happen a lot, guys.
Amory: We’re sorry.
Dallas: All right, so the chatter you hear in the beginning is actually the voices of the composer and the CEO of Fox duplicated to make it sound like a crowded theater. And what that is is the sonic logo for Gracie Films.
Ben: Gracie Films!
Emily: Hmm. I knew—See, I said Christie, I was like, It's a, it's a chick's name.
Grace: So close.
Dallas: So close.
Ben: You were so close!
Grace: That was very good.
Emily: Yeah.
Amory: I never would have gotten that.
Ben: Ugh.
Grace: Emily, I'm gonna give you a point.
Emily: Nice.
Grace: I think that was well earned.
Dallas: I think so too.
Ben: Fully deserved.
Grace: You got us almost there.
Amory: Totally.
Emily: Woo! Yeah!
Grace: Woop woop woop!
Emily: Yeah!
Dallas: So this next sound, um, I don't want to signpost, but I don't think anybody's gonna get it. So you just tell us what you think.
Amory: Ah! Come on Dallas! Just wait.
Dallas: Alright. Sound number seven.
[sfx: Zadar sea organ]
Emily: This sounds like a sound sculpture, or a glass harmonica, or something.
Amory: And I hear a little like water again.
Dallas: Oh yeah.
Ben: Agreed.
Dallas: I think points are gonna go to whoever gets closest to this.
Grace: Yeah. That was a great first guess.
Ben: Is it an animal playing an instrument?
Dallas: It is not.
Emily: What, Ben?
Amory: Is it like the audio reflection off of the blade of a windmill?
Emily: Hmm.
Grace: Ooh.
Ben: Cool.
Dallas: Let me, let me load up that sound in my mind.
Amory: So you're saying I'm wrong. Okay, got it.
Ben: Can we hear it again?
[sfx: Zadar sea organ]
Ben: To me, it sounds like some people playing with their instruments outside. Like they like left the orchestra room to like do their thing. But you can hear the orchestra doing its thing.
Emily: I also think I hear water.
Amory: Yes! I heard water.
Emily: So I feel like it's like a ride at Disney, or something weird.
Dallas: I feel like Emily is just circling this. Like point-worthy at this point.
Grace: Emily is closing in.
Amory: I knew when we invited her on, she was going to wipe the floor with us.
Ben: Clearly, we needed a ringer. That's for sure.
Dallas: For a sound no one's gonna get, I feel like that's a two-pointer.
Grace: Agreed.
Emily: What? Wow.
Amory: Wow.
Grace: Yeah, Emily has basically said two of like the three things.
Dallas: Very clear things. Okay, so I'm gonna reveal this one, because I think it's just fair at this point. What it is, it's the so-called Sea Organ in the city of Zadar, Croatia. And it's the sound installation that's carved into a set of stone steps that are going into the sea. In these steps, there are holes that lead to 35 organ tubes. And I'm just, I'm laughing because like, there's no way you could get all of this detail.
Amory: Yeah.
Emily: No, it sounds amazing.
Dallas: And as the waves splash into the holes, it produces these sounds.
[sfx: Zadar sea organ]
Emily: Mmm hmm.
Amory: Wow.
Ben: See this is like so cool. And also, like this is the perfect example of something that would never get done in America.
Emily: That’s depressing.
Ben: I just feel like it's like one of those things where it's like, how many angry neighbors would show up to that town meeting being like, “I don't want this thing on my [nonsense words]. Get that sound outta my blah.” You know? But Croatia!
Emily: Yeah, Croatia. You pretty much sealed the deal, Croatia. I’m coming to you soon!
Dallas: Um, okay. I'm very happy with like Emily said it immediately, “sound installation.” I was like, “Oh yes, there's gonna be points there.”
Grace: Yeah. I've given Emily two points because I'm pretty sure she mentioned water and sound insulation, so I'm pretty impressed.
Amory: I said water first, for the record.
Ben: I was gonna say, I was gonna say, I think Amory said water but, yeah.
Grace: Oh! Interest—okay wait.
Amory: One for water? One for water?
Grace: One for water. You got it.
Amory: I’m really enjoying the negotiation of…
Dallas: I like the negotiation.
Grace: Yeah, I’m all for it.
Dallas: And to be fair, this year we did make 'em kind of obscure and hard, because in the years past, we found it shocking how good people are at this like, thing.
Ben: Oh, perfect.
Dallas: So that's why there's some real like curve balls in here.
Ben: Great. You tested out the smartest sounds on the dumbest group of people. Perfect.
Amory: Just keep expecting more like “audio refraction off a windmill blade,” okay?
Emily: Yeah,
Ben: “You guys make podcasts? You'll be good at this.” Nope.
Dallas: All right. Let's go to sound eight.
[sfx: Close Encounters clip]
Amory: Whoa. Um…
Ben: Clearly some sort of tuba. Maybe it's a sousaphone? I don't know.
Amory: Is it from Fantasia?
Ben: I was gonna say Peter and the Wolf.
[sfx: Close Encounters clip]
Emily: I have no idea.
Dallas: I don't even wanna give this as a point deduction hint. So let's keep the points all the way up there.
Amory: Okay.
Dallas: But this is from a film that was from 1977. I'm gonna give you another one. A space film, a space-ish film.
Ben: Oh! Uh, 2001 Space Odyssey? Uh…
Emily: I would guess Close Encounters.
Ben: Oh yeah, Close Encounters.
Dallas: Of the how many kind?
Emily: Third Kind.
Ben: Third Kind.
[sfx: correct]
Ben: Oh man. That’s what I guessed earlier!
Emily: I know.
Grace: I know!
Ben: Do I get anything from guessing that earlier?
Dallas: Wait, you guessed it earlier?
Emily: He did.
Dallas: Like a totally different sound?
Amory: Totally different sound.
Emily: Yeah.
Dallas: Well, I'll reveal it. And then, uh, Grace you, you know, think of what's fair and, um, get prepared for negotiation.
Ben: And tell me your Venmo, Grace.
Grace: I'm easily bribed.
Dallas: So that came from a scene in Close Encounters of the Third Kind, where the scientists communicate with the alien mothership using musical tones. The main melody the aliens use sound like this.
[sfx: Close Encounters melody]
Emily: Yes, that's, that's what it is, Ben.
Ben: Yes, classic!
Grace: That’s the one.
Ben: Yeah.
Dallas: So while working on the movie, composer John Williams tried about 350 different note combinations before deciding on that one. He even enlisted the help of a mathematician to calculate the number of five note combinations they could create from a 12 note scale. For the record, it was approximately 134,000 combinations.
Amory: Wow.
Emily: That's so cool that all that work went into the movie.
Dallas: I’m kind of bugged by this whole concept though, that aliens would use the 12 note scale that we use in Western music.
Emily: Yeah that doesn’t make sense.
Ben: Great point.
Amory: Not, not a microtonal scale for aliens?
Emily: Aliens probably hear plenty of frequencies that we cannot.
Dallas: And that, yeah. I bet that we wouldn't even hear it. It'd be too low, too high. Who knows? Maybe it vibrates, I don't know, methane in a different way than nitrogen. Who knows?
Emily: Maybe it would just hit us, and we'd just explode.
Dallas: Exactly. And the alien's just like, “What happened? I was just singing.”
Ben: Yeah, exactly.
Grace: “Just saying hi!”
Ben: After all of our heads implode.
Dallas: Alright. For the sake of time, I think we need to get to sound nine.
[sfx: AirPod connect]
Emily: Oooh!
Amory: Oh.
Ben: It’s a notification sound.
Emily: It’s an error message, isn't it?
Dallas: It is not.
Emily: Hmm.
Amory: No it does sound similar to that, but it’s…
Ben: It is a like a notification though, right?
Dallas: It's a notification of a kind. Yeah.
Emily: Huh? Uhhh…
Amory: Was that like the…
Ben: Is it a Tinder match?
Emily: No, that’s not—no.
Ben: I’m just guessing about things I don't know anything about.
Amory: I was gonna say it was like an early AIM.
Emily: No.
Amory: No, it sounds later than that.
[sfx: AirPod connect]
Emily: Is it Windows?
Dallas: It is not.
Emily: So it's a Mac thing?
Dallas: It is.
Emily: Okay, Now we… I feel really dumb, I use a Mac
Dallas: So hint number one is, these are safe to stick in your ears.
Emily: Oh, AirPods!
Ben: Oh, Ear—Ear Pods. AirPods.
Amory: Is it when you connect to your AirPods?
[sfx: correct]
Grace: Yes.
Emily: Yeah, I don’t use them enough. Oh, man. Yeah.
Dallas: I feel like that was three correct answers all at the exact same time.
Grace: It sure was. And they got it after only one hint.
Dallas: Yeah, two points all around.
Amory: Alright!
Grace: Two across the board.
Amory: There's that positivity.
Ben: Finally some points, woof!
Dallas: So hint number two was though they come in pairs, many people only wear one because they've lost the other one.
Amory: Ha.
Ben: That’s a good hint.
Dallas: And the reveal is, that's the sound of Apple AirPods connecting to a device.
[sfx: AirPod connect]
Emily: I find it interesting that we all thought it was an error message, but it's not, and we all know what it is.
Dallas: Yeah.
Emily: That's really funny.
Ben: It feels a little dissonant somehow.
Dallas: Oh, it sounds like when you add a hard drive to a Windows computer.
[sfx: Windows device inserted] Bur bur!
Emily: Yeah. Very disappointed in myself with this one
Dallas: Alright, uh, so sound number 10.
[sfx: Frogger title theme]
Ben: Oh, this is clearly, uh, this, it sounds like Mario. Um, but it's not. It's Zelda?
Dallas: Nope.
Amory: No, I know this. Is this Pacman?
Emily: It's not.
Ben: No.
Dallas: You're getting close. You're in the same arcade.
Amory: Is it—um, wait, I really know this. Ohh.
Ben: Can you play it again?
[sfx: Frogger gameplay]
Ben: Oh God. I know this.
Emily: Tetris?
Ben: Yes. It's gotta be Tetris.
Amory: No, it’s not Tetris.
Ben: No, it's not quite Tetris.
Dallas: This is also one of those, like half the listeners right now are just like, “Oh my!”
Amory: I, I know. Throw your tomatoes. I know.
Emily: “Hghghg! What’s wrong with you!?”
Ben: Is it Burger Time?
Dallas: Um, think that, but more popular.
Ben: Donkey Kong?
Dallas: Close. It'd probably be sitting right next to this in the arcade.
Ben: Lode Runner. Eh, that’s not popular enough.
Dallas: I'll give hint one and hint two here. So you might know this if you hung out at the arcades as a kid. But hint number two is, there's a Seinfeld episode where George pushes an arcade…
Ben: Oh, Frogger!
[sfx: correct] Frogger.
Ben: Frogger! It's Frogger!
Grace: Ding, ding ding! Amazing.
Emily: Oh, that is funny, Ben.
Ben: If this was all Seinfeld references, I'd be crushing.
Amory: This is truly ruining my marriage.
Emily: Oh no.
Dallas: So, that's the sound of the original Frogger game from 1981.
[sfx: Frogger title theme]
Ben: Yes.
Dallas: The Frogger theme is taken from a Japanese children's song, which in English translates to the Dog Police Officer.
[clip: Dog Police Officer]
Emily: That’s nice. I like that.
Dallas: So where are we at with the points across the board here, Grace, at sound 10?
Grace: Sure. So in third place, we have Amory with 6. In second place, we have Ben with 8. And in first place we have Emily with 12.
Ben: Wait, I'm only two ahead of Amory?
Amory: Yes, Ben, you're only two ahead.
Ben: Alright, I'm gonna have to work on that.
Amory: And I'm comin’ for ya.
Ben: I don't mind coming in second. Just as long as Amory's a distant third.
Amory: Oh, come on!
Dallas: Oh, gosh.
Emily: Mean!
Ben: Well, I just know that Emily's gonna beat me handily, so I can't, I've given up on that.
Emily: I don’t know about that. There’s still like plenty of chances.
Amory: Get ready. Round two.
[music in]
Announcer: The Mystery Sound Throwdown will return after these messages.
[music out]
MIDROLL
[music in]
Announcer: We now return to the Twenty Thousand Hertz Mystery Sound Throwdown.
[music out]
Dallas: Alright, so let's go ahead and, uh, hit sound 11.
[sfx: Lancaster Musical Road]
Emily: I know what this is. It's you're in a car and it's on the side of the road and it's got little—You know how when you go on the side of a road and there's bumps?
Dallas: Mmm-hmm.
Emily: And it wakes you up?
Ben: Yes.
Amory: Oh yeah, yeah, yeah. The ridges?
Ben: Uh, it's the rumble strip? It's a rumble strip that's also tuned?
Emily: Yeah, I think.
Dallas: Correct.
[sfx: correct]
Dallas: So you've got some point or two for that.
Emily: So we need to guess the song?
Dallas: Yeah, can you? I honestly, I couldn't pick it out, but we could play it again.
[sfx: Lancaster Musical Road]
Amory: Wow.
Ben: It feels like it's like in mixolydian or something. It has like a modal quality to it, for me.
Emily: Well, they're probably not driving at the perfect speed. Um…
Ben: Yeah, exactly. Is it Jingle Bells, but like real jacked up?
Dallas: I'll go ahead and reveal this because I don't even hear it, but that is the sound of a musical stretch of highway in Lancaster, California. As part of a promotion for Honda, special grooves were cut in the pavement that causes these notes to ring out as you drive over them. The song it plays is supposed to be the William Tell Overture, but there might have been some miscommunication between the engineers and the road crew, because it ended up sounding like that.
Amory: Have they ever heard the William Tell Overture?
Ben: That?
Dallas: Jai has the bonus clip.
Grace: Jai has it queued up.
[clip: William Tell Overture]
Emily: Pfff!
Dallas: Okay. what? Okay, play what we—play the sound again.
[sfx: Lancaster Musical Road]
Emily: It sounds like a sad, sad, uh.
Dallas: Da da da dun. No, it’s not anywhere close.
Ben: You know how some YouTube creators like take a pop song and then slow it down to this like super heavy dirge or whatever?
Emily: Yeah.
Ben: It's like that, but they cut it into the pavement and probably spent so much money on it.
Grace: Yeah.
Dallas: Well, to be fair, they're probably driving way too slow. But that’s kind of a bait and switch, I feel like everyone deserves a point just because it's not William Tell. I mean, it's not our fault. It's Honda's fault. But…
Amory: Yeah. Okay, I think Emily should get two.
Dallas: Oh yeah yeah.
Amory: See, my negotiation works in other people's favors, too. But Emily got the rumble strip thing, which my mind never would've gone to, so.
Grace: She did get the rumble strips.
Ben: I was the first person who said, “Rumble strip.” I'm just saying.
Amory: Okay, but Emily described it.
Ben: I said, “rumble strip.”
Amory: No, but Emily knew the thing, and you just put the word to the thing.
Grace: Ben, you’ve still got a point.
Ben: No yeah, if I get a point, I’m happy. I’m happy.
Dallas: Alright, so I don't know if we set this one up the way that I was hoping we could, but this next one is so popular that I wanted to do it just like one note at a time. Alright.
[clip: Reading Rainbow intro]
Dallas: Oh yep. Do it again.
[clip: Reading Rainbow intro]
Ben: Oh, it's the beginning of a Who song.
Grace: That Is a good guess.
Emily: What?
Amory: Aww. That's what they say to people who are wrong.
Ben: No!
Dallas: Alright. Maybe a just a little bit longer.
[clip: Reading Rainbow intro]
Amory: Oh,
Ben: Yeah, uh, that's, that's…
Emily: Oh no.
Ben: This is also television iconography.
Amory: Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah! It is like a national show. It's like a national news show.
Dallas: Oh god.
Ben: No.
Dallas: Play the whole clip.
[clip: Reading Rainbow intro]
Ben: Oh, oh, oh. It's Reading Rainbow.
[sfx: correct]
Emily: Oh yeah!–
Amory: Awww.
Dallas: It’s the beginning of reading Rainbow.
Grace: Well done, Ben.
Dallas: So that is the very beginning of the original Reading Rainbow theme. The vocals were performed by Tina Fabrique for the show's debut in 1983. Recently, people have started using the song on TikToks of people trying to figure out something confusing.
Emily: That's funny.
Dallas: Which is pretty great actually.
Amory: All of us right now trying to figure out these sounds.
Dallas: So this next one, sound 13. This one is, uh, I don't wanna tell you. Alright, let’s try this again.
[sfx: Zebra sounds]
Emily: Water animals.
Amory: Yeah.
Amory: Um…
Ben: Oh God.
Emily: Ducks, loons, flamingos.
Ben: Is this the beginning of the Budweiser commercial?
Dallas: Sounds like it. The hint number one is, this is not a frog.
Emily: Geese. Seals…
Ben: Oh is this from those claymation, um Wallace and Gromit?
Dallas: Mm-mmm.
Amory: No.
Dallas: I'll also go with hit number two here. These animals are from Africa, or come from parts of Africa. And just ignore the water.
Emily: Hyenas?
Dallas: No. How about one more time before the reveal.
[sfx: Zebra sounds]
Ben: This is a beautiful sound. I'm into it. I definitely need like an hour of this, one of those YouTubes. Just an hour of whatever this is.
Amory: Baby elephants.
Emily: Baby elephants.
Dallas: Alright, reveal time.
Amory: Baby giraffes.
Dallas: Oh, so close.
Amory: Baby zebras!
Dallas: There…It's so close…
Amory: Baby uh… antelopes…
Jai: I thought I heard someone say it.
Dallas: “Baby.” They said “baby,” though.
Amory: I said “baby elephants.” I said, “baby giraffes.”
Ben: Zebras!
Amory: I said, “baby zebra.”
Ben: Regular zebras.
[sfx: correct]
Amory: I said “baby zebras” first.
Ben: I know, but I said “zebras” when they told us that they weren't babies.
Dallas: But we could edit this very easily and just take the “baby” out.
Amory: Right.
Dallas: And it’d just say “zebras,” so “zebra” has been said.
Amory: You would hear me say “zebra” first.
Grace: That’s right.
Dallas: So those are the sounds of adult zebras. They make a surprising amount of noise and communicate using barks, brays, snorts, and chirps.
[sfx: zebra]
Emily: Wow. I had no idea.
Ben: So cool.
Grace: So Amory, I'm gonna give you one point for that. You guessed zebra.
Amory: Thank you. Thank you.
Grace: You’re welcome. Well earned.
Amory: Thank you so much. Just catching up to Ben.
Dallas: Ben, are you doing any negotiation on this?
Ben: I mean, I, you know, I'm just gonna let it ride this time.
Dallas: Alright. So um, number 14.
[sfx: Austin Powers call]
Ben: Oh yeah, that's, um.
Emily: Mork & Mindy?
Ben: No, but it's a, It's a…
Emily: It’s a call.
Ben: It's like information coming in to…
Amory: Oh, the Enterprise!
Emily: Star Wars?
Amory: No, it's not Star Wars.
[sfx: Austin Powers call]
Ben: I wanna say it's like Dick Tracy or something, but it's not…
Amory: Oh, oh yeah. Like, um, oh my God. Get Smart. Is it from Get Smart? Is it like the phone?
Dallas: It’s probably in Get Smart.
Grace: Yeah, so close. Very good guess.
Amory: Ok, what’s another Get Smart-ish. Oh! Uh…
Emily: James Bond?
Dallas: Ooh, it’s right there.
Amory: Like Austin Powers?
Dallas: Yes! Yes! There it is!
[sfx: correct]
Amory: It's Austin Powers! It was me!
Ben: Oh, Austin Powers.
Amory: It was me!
Dallas: Now here’s the thing. I remember when we put this out as a mystery sound. Our answer was Austin Powers. But then I remember when we revealed it, a couple people wrote and said, “No, that was from something else.” I'm seeing here in the reveal that it's from the 1966 secret agency parody film, Our Man Flint.
Grace: We have the Our Man Flint theme to compare, just in case.
[sfx: Our Man Flint call]
Emily: Hmm.
Dallas: I mean, that sounds it.
Ben: Oh yeah, that’s the same thing.
Amory: It's very similar. Wait, play the original sound again?
[sfx: Austin Powers call]
Amory: Okay. It sounds like they sampled from it in Austin Powers, as a hat tip, but a goofy hat tip.
Grace: An homage.
Ben: Yeah.
Amory: What I'm trying to get us to is I am correct.
Amory: But also this will save my marriage, because Mike references Austin Powers all the time.
Emily: Yay!
Amory: And I still have never seen it. But um…
Emily: Oh, you just ruined it again.
Ben: None of them? You've seen none of them?
Amory: I’ve seen none of them.
Emily: Amory!
Amory: I know. I’m sorry. I'm busy!
Dallas: Alright. How about sound number 15?
[sfx: Twin Peaks backwards speaking]
Amory: Wow.
Ben: Well clearly reversed vocalizations over non-reversed orchestration.
Dallas: Mmm-hmm.
Amory: It sounds like, oh, no. If it were this, Emily would know immediately. I was gonna say, it sounds like Bjork.
Emily: It did, I, that crossed my mind, but I don't recognize it.
Dallas: So this is from a short-lived cult classic TV show from the early nineties.
Amory: Ooh.
Emily: Buffy? I don't know.
Ben: I wanna say like Eon Flux or something. Um…
Dallas: Oh, that was so—That freaked me out as a kid.
Ben: Me too.
Amory: From the early nineties.
[sfx: Twin Peaks backwards speaking]
Ben: Oh, X-Files! X-Files?
Emily: Mmm.
Amory: No, that wasn't short lived!
Ben: Oh, I guess it wasn't short lived. You're right.
Dallas: It came from the mind of filmmaker David Lynch.
Ben: Oh, dude! It's, um, it's, uh, Oh God. It's. Oh God. The, the, uh, the movie about Ca—it’s about Canada and the there's a murder and she shows up in a bag and is they—and then they remade it recently.
Emily: It’s on the tip of my tongue.
Ben: I watched it in the hospital when my twins were born. I watched all of it when my twins were born, cuz I was stuck in a hospital for five days. And that's also why I don't remember it!
Emily: No!
Ben: Um, it's, it's like great, it's north. Uh, God, what is it? It’s…
Grace: Oh Ben, you’re so close.
Ben: Uh, it's uh, God.
Dallas: I'm just gonna let you just keep on this. You'll get there.
Ben: Oh God, rolling around in the glass shards?
Dallas: This is our promo right now, of you just like flailing.
Emily: I feel like it has “twin” or “tower”—
Ben: Twin Peaks! Twin Peaks!
[sfx: correct]
Grace: Yes!
Emily: Yeah, there you go.
Amory: Oh my God, you even said it was when your twins were born!
Grace: I know.
Ben: That's so true. Yikes.
Amory: Twin Peaks.
Ben: That's how much having a baby and staying in the hospital for too many days will mess with your brain. I, I should say, uh, related, I do want my kids to start a synth duo named Twin Geeks.
Emily: I'm into it.
Dallas: So reveal time. That was the voice of Laura Palmer from the season two finale of Twin Peaks. Laura is saying, "I'll see you again in 25 years."
[sfx: Twin Peaks backwards talking]
Dallas: To create the strange sounding speech for these scenes, director David Lynch had the actors memorize their lines backwards phonetically. Then, they took that audio and reversed it. The result is that the dialogue is semi-understandable, but sounds really uncanny.
Emily: That is pretty cool.
Amory: Whoa.
Dallas: To me, this seems like the premise of if I'm in purgatory and trying to get out of it, they're like, “Make a podcast like this, and it's gotta be good.”
Ben: Oh. so true Dallas. So true. Was it, is that a one for Emily and a two for me?
Grace: Ooh.
Emily: I did say “twin.”
Grace: You did.
Ben: And I said, “Twin Peaks.” I said “Twin Peaks.” And I gave a lot of other information about the show.
Emily: I knew there were two structures. I wasn't sure if there were towers, mountains…
Amory: I mean, definitely Emily. You know I wanna be as generous to you as possible, but that seemed like more of a Ben thing.
Grace: I, uh, I'll, I'll have to agree with Amory on this one.
Emily: Yeah. I don't care. Go for it.
Grace: I am gonna give Ben a point though, because even after two clues you did get it.
Amory: And you got a real workout, mental workout getting there. We heard the struggle.
Ben: As long as I'm still ahead of Amory, it's worth it.
Amory: Ugh!
Dallas: So how about we go to sound 16.
[sfx: Dreamcast startup]
Emily: That's nice.
Amory: I have no idea, but it was nice.
Emily: Yeah, that's all.
Amory: Um.
Ben: This is the beginning of a… It's a sound logo.
Amory: Really?
Ben: Like it plays during the beginning of something.
Amory: Uh…
Ben: Can we get a hint?
Dallas: Oh sure. So this belonged to a popular gaming console.
Ben: Yes! It's a PlayStation. No, no, it's not a PlayStation.
Amory: It’s a Nintendo.
Ben: It's, um, It's No, no, no. It's an Xbox.
Amory: It's an Xbox.
Emily: Sega Dreamcast?
[sfx: correct]
Emily: No way. Really?
Amory: Wow.
Ben: Well played.
Emily: Oh my lord.
Grace: She’s back!
Dallas: So that's the sound of a Sega Dreamcast booting up.
[sfx: Dreamcast startup]
Dallas: The startup sound was created by a Japanese musician and composer named Ryuichi Sakamoto. He's also a member of the influential electronic band called Yellow Magic Orchestra, which has been around since the 1970s.
[clip: Yellow Magic Orchestra]
Emily: Nice.
Amory: Lovely work.
Dallas: How about sound 17?
[sfx: Predator clicks]
Ben: Uh, that's the Predator.
[sfx: correct]
Grace: Whoa.
Dallas: That is the Predator.
Grace: Nailed it.
Amory: Wow.
Grace: Whew.
Ben: I'd know that anywhere. You know what I like to say? “Mud up or shut up.” That’s what I like to say. Cover yourself in mud so the Predator doesn't get you.
Dallas: So that was The Predator's clicking sound from the 1987 movie starring Arnold Schwarzenegger. Voice actor Peter Cullen came up with the sounds for the Predator. Speaking at a convention, he said that the sound was inspired by a horseshoe crab he saw dying on a beach when he was a kid.
Amory: Wow.
Emily: That makes all the sense to me.
Ben: That to me makes perfect sense that—
Emily: Yeah, no, totally.
Ben: That description. A hundred percent.
Emily: Yeah, the upside—the body.
Amory: You guys have watched horseshoe crabs die?
Ben: No, but I've seen horseshoe crabs and I've seen the Predator, Amory. Unlike you.
Emily: Horseshoe crabs are creepy looking.
Ben: And they also have those like crab leg appendages. That's like the Predator's mouth, right there.
Emily: Yeah!
Amory: Okay. I'll have to believe you.
Dallas: Alright, so three more. Sound number 18.
[clip: The Rolling Stones - Cosmic Christmas]
Emily: Nice reverb tails, guys.
Amory: Yeah, really nice. I’m gonna say it’s from the Matrix. I'm going Matrix.
Ben: No.
Amory: Yeah, that's wrong.
Ben: Oh, is it in the newer Blade Runner? Blade Runner 2049. Is it when like Jared Leto's doing like weird meditation in his weird meditation room?
Grace: It is not.
Dallas: So it's an alternative version to a classic holiday song.
Amory: What?
Ben: Oh God.
Emily: Alright.
[clip: The Rolling Stones - Cosmic Christmas]
Dallas: Hint number two. This band who performed this is still touring and recording 60 years after they started.
Ben: Is this um, oh, The Bang on a Can All Stars or something? Uh… Oh God. Silver Apples? Uh…
Dallas: I know all these words you're saying, I just don't know them in the order that you're saying them.
Ben: Okay.
Emily. Amory & Ben: Um.
Amory: Did Guns and Roses ever do a Christmas album?
Grace: That's on the right track, though.
Emily: All right. Oh, really?
Amory: Kiss? Is it Kiss?
Dallas: See now I think we're just giving it away. I'm gonna reveal this one. Alright, so that's a snippet from a hidden Rolling Stones track called Cosmic Christmas. The song is a warped version of We Wish You a Merry Christmas from The Stones’ album, Their Satan— Sorry. I didn't preread this, so it's just kind of funny for me to say it out loud. Okay, let me do this again. So the song is a warped version of We Wish You a Merry Christmas from the, from the Stones’ album that their Satan, Oh Gosh, I can't, sorry…
Amory: You can do it!
Ben: Yeah. This is good
Emily: Keep it in! Keep it in! Keep it in!
Dallas: Okay. It's We Wish You a Merry Christmas from the Stones album Their Satanic Majesty's Request. Uh, Cosmic Christmas doesn't appear on the album's track listing, but it plays at the very end of side one.
Emily: Cool.
Dallas: I just couldn't get through like “It's, We Wish You a Merry Christmas in this cosmic form from their album Their Satanic—Their Satanic Majesty's Request.”
Ben: Yeah,
Amory: Oh my God.
Ben: Yeah, that's some cockamamie stuff the Stones would get into.
Amory: “Yeah, I only listen to Cosmic Christmas of the Stones. Uh, nothing else.”
Dallas: All right, Um, two more to go. All right, sound number 19.
[sfx: Gizmo singing]
Emily: ET? No?
Amory: It's like someone doing a theremin imitation.
Ben: Oh, is it from Sound of Music or something, or?
Dallas: Mmm mmm.
Ben: No.
[sfx: Gizmo singing]
Emily: This is hurting me inside.
Dallas: And a lot of people listening right now.
Emily: Yeah.
Amory: And a lot of people, oh, great.
Ben: Wait, you know it, Emily?
Emily: No, I don't, but I do like my soul does. You know?
Amory: Do I get any soul points?
Emily: Goonies!
Ben: No.
Dallas: You are in the orbit of…
Emily: Gremlins! Gremlins.
Dallas: Yes. Who is that in Gremlins?
Emily: It’s the main gu—The main little Gremmy!
Dallas: Named?
Amory: Gremster!
Ben: No.
Emily: The main little guy! He has a name?
Ben: Oh God, he does have a name.
Dallas: He has a very popular name.
Emily: A popular name? Bob. Uh.
Dallas: Oh, when I say it, you'll go, “Oh yeah, that's the name.”
Amory: Does it start with a G?
Dallas: It does.
Amory: Of course it does.
Amory & Emily: Goober.
Dallas: No.
Emily: Gus? Is it Gus? Is it Gary? Is it Gas? Gu.
Ben: Greg. Is it cousin Greg?
Grace: Greg!
Amory: Geoff with a G.
Dallas: Alright, I'm gonna reveal this so that is the singing voice of Gizmo, the Mogwai.
Emily: Gizmo!
Grace: Gizmo.
Dallas: In the movie Gremlins.
Emily: Lil’ dude!
Dallas: It was actually Howie Mandel who voiced the speaking parts of Gizmo.
[sfx: Gizmo speaking]
Ben: When you look at Howie Mandel's face, you would never expect that sound to come out of it. That's amazing.
Dallas: So the speaking part was from Howie Mandel, but the film’s composer Jerry Goldsmith opted to hire a young girl he knew to sing Gizmo's song instead.
[sfx: Gizmo singing]
Emily: It's so cute.
Ben: I think we all feel pretty bad about that one.
Amory: Yeah.
Dallas: Yeah.
Amory: Another movie I haven't seen.
Dallas: So before we go into the very last sound, what's the score?
Grace: Alright, so we are still pretty close. Amory is in third with 11. Ben is in second with 16, and Emily is in a close first with 18.
Ben: Oof!
Amory: So I cannot come from behind at this point.
Ben: So except should you make it so that she can, you know what I mean? Like in Jeopardy, she can bet?
Dallas: I feel like we've done this in the past. I can't remember what we made up on the spot though.
Amory: I like the sound of that.
Ben: Why am I trying to help you? I take that back.
Emily: Yeah. What are you doing, Ben? Like, what are you doing?
Amory: Because I’ve advocated for points for you.
Ben: I just always vote for the underdog. I can't help myself, even when I'm not it.
Emily: I'm down. Let's do it.
Ben: Yeah.
Amory: I've advocated for points for both of you. I'm terrible at this game, but I'm good at justice.
Grace: So I feel like what we can do is for Amory to get in the lead, we could make the final question worth like 10 points or something. I don't know how everyone feels about that.
Amory: I feel great.
Ben: Amory feels great about it.
Amory: Wait, we could make it seven points so that no matter what, I can only tie Emily. I can't win.
Grace: Okay, that’s true. That’s true.
Dallas: Mm.
Emily: Well then what?
Ben: Yeah, but what if it's a partial? What if it gets split?
Grace: That's true.
Amory: Hmm.
Ben: You know what Grace? Our life is in your hands. We trust you. I say Grace dolls out as many points as she wants to whomever she wants.
Dallas: Mm.
Ben: To close this out. You know what I mean?
Grace: Sure. You know what, let's keep it at Amory can tie Emily, at best. I like that.
Ben: Okay.
Amory: Yep.
Grace: I think that feels fair.
Ben: Yeah.
Emily: Okay.
Amory: Great.
Grace: So we'll play for seven points.
Amory: Okay.
Dallas: Okay. Everyone get ready.
Ben: Yes.
Dallas: Sit up straight.
Ben: Kay.
Dallas: You know, put all your brain power into your ears. And then, uh, here is sound 20.
[sfx: Mortal Kombat Toasty]
Amory: Wait, wait, wait. I know this! Um,
Ben: Oh no.
Amory: Oh my God. I know this.
Emily: Well, now’s your chance.
[sfx: Mortal Kombat Toasty]
Ben: I wanna know what the word is being said.
Emily: Is it Amory?
Amory: It does sound like something I would do.
Ben: Tufty? What are they saying?
Dallas: Toasty.
Ben: Oh, Toasty!
Amory: Toasty! Cinnamon Toast Crunch!
Ben: Aww. Aww.
Dallas: Nope.
Grace: No.
Amory: Oh!
Ben: Is it from Toaster Strudels? Is it from a commercial? For poptarts?
Dallas: It has nothing to do with any sort of toasting situation.
Amory: It doesn’t have to do with, with the p—Okay.
[sfx: Mortal Kombat Toasty]
Ben: I can't, I don't think I can get that high.
Amory: Toasty!
Dallas: Alright, I'll do a hint here. It is from a game.
Emily: Mm.
Amory: Oh. Oh, is it—I'm just gonna say, is it from Zelda?
Dallas: I would love. Okay, hold on. At what point in Zelda would, uh, Link say, "toasty?"
Amory: “Hey, listen!”
Ben: It's after he, it's after Link gets burned by something. That would be my guess.
Emily: That’s great!
Amory: I've never played the game. I just know that it's from Zelda.
Emily: I’m pretty disappointed in myself, if it’s from Zelda.
Dallas: It's when Link goes to the Master Sword and pulls it out, and then he goes, “Toasty!”
Emily: He does!? Oh man!
Ben: For real?
Dallas: No, it's not from Zelda.
Emily: Oh! (laughs) Oh my God. Your poor listeners. They've probably hit stop by now.
Amory: All right. Can we get a, that was only hint number one, right?
Dallas: Okay. Um, well the next hint will probably get some points on the board here. So this game popularized the phrase, “Finish him,” or “Finish her.”
Ben: Oh, Oh, dude it’s from Mortal Kombat!
Emily: Mortal Kombat!
Amory: Mortal Kombat!
[sfx: correct]
Ben: Of course. Yes.
Grace: Alright!
Emily: Hey ho.
Grace: That was everybody, correct?
Ben: Yeah.
Amory: Yeah. That was a chorus of Mortal Kombat.
Grace: So I'm gonna give, because we agreed on seven, I'm gonna give everyone three points across the board, just to round it out.
Amory: Okay.
Ben: Oh, you know what? I like that.
Amory: I like that.
Ben: I like still beating Amory handily, and I'm fine with losing to Emily.
Dallas: So that was an Easter egg from Mortal Kombat II. It's actually the voice of the game's composer, Dan Fordin. Fordin would appear every time a player performed a vicious uppercut.
Emily: Hmm.
Amory: Wow. That's a dainty sound effect for such violence.
Ben: Yeah.
Dallas: So uh, yeah. Was it Emily who won?
Grace: Emily won. So our final scores: We've got Amory in third place with 14, Ben in second place with 19, and Emily holding her lead with 21.
Emily: Wooo!
Ben: Wow.
Grace: Woo.
Emily: Wooo!
Ben: You did your team proud Emily.
Emily: Yeah!
Dallas: And I'm thankful for everyone, but it does just bring a little point of pride when a mixer/sound designer wins the game.
Emily: Hey, hey, hey, hey.
Amory: We knew what we were getting ourselves into by inviting her on.
Emily: You asked me.
Ben: Can you guys, can you guys do this once a month? Would you mind?
Dallas: You know…
Ben: Because this is a really fun game and ingenious.
Amory: This wasn't that much work for you, right?
Ben: Yeah.
Dallas: Oh no, this is so…I was actually gonna say this is so much easier than making our actual show.
Amory: I know. I know.
Dallas: That I would totally pivot into just making a Mystery Sound game show.
Ben: I love that.
Amory: I know. That would be fun.
Ben: You know what I love about this too? This is pure joy.
Amory: Yeah.
Ben: At this time of year, I need some pure joy, and this is pure joy. So thank you, Twenty Thousand Hertz, for bringing some pure audio joy into my life.
Amory: Yeah, and for having us.
Grace: Aww.
Emily: Aww, Ben, that was nice.
Dallas: Well, thank you. This is real wholesome here at the end, this is so sweet.
Ben: Yeah!
Dallas: Well…
Ben: Are we gonna go play some Mortal Kombat now?
[sfx: Mortal Kombat Toasty]
Amory: Toasty!
Grace: Toasty!
Ben: Toasty!
Emily: Toasty!
[music in]
Emily: Fatality! That's what I remember.
Grace: Fatality! (laughs)
Twenty Thousand Hertz is produced out of the sound design studios of Defacto Sound. For some wacky and ridiculous sound design videos, subscribe to the Defacto Sound Youtube channel.
A huge thanks to Amory, Ben and Emily for joining us. Over on their show Endless Thread, they dig into the most obscure parts of the internet to find all kinds of fascinating stories. They've tracked down the origins of famous memes, explored the rise of bots, and even talked to a coven of cyberwitches. It’s surprising, and heartfelt, and consistently funny. Subscribe to Endless Thread, right here in your podcast player.
This episode was produced by Casey Emmerling, with help from Grace East. It was sound edited by Soren Begin. It was sound designed and mixed by Brandon Pratt. With an epic game show announcer voice by Nick Spradlin.
I’m Dallas Taylor, and from all of us here at Twenty Thousand Hertz, happy holidays, and we’ll be back next month.
Thanks for listening.
[music out]
