Art by George Butler.
For our fifth annual Mystery Sound Game Show, Dallas invited three friends from the world of professional audio to compete against each other. So crank up the volume and see how many sounds you can guess. Featuring Dialog & ADR Editor Austin Olivia Kendrick, Sound Designer Mike James Gallagher, and Sound Designer Zachary Quarles.
MUSIC FEATURED IN THIS EPISODE
Messi - It’s More Fun
WLDHRT - Get Loud *[Christmas Version]*
indoorcat - jingle bells
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View Transcript ▶︎
[music in: Messi - It’s More Fun]
You’re listening to Twenty Thousand Hertz, I’m Dallas Taylor.
As our longtime listeners know, every year, we end the year with a special Mystery Sound game show episode. In the past, we’ve invited some of our favorite podcasters to come on the show and guess these sounds. But this year, I decided to invite a few of my friends from the world of professional audio.
The first guest is dialog and ADR editor Austin Olivia Kendrick. Austin’s credits include Barry, as well as Star Trek: Discovery, and the Transformers: Earthspark series.
The second guest is sound designer Mike James Gallagher. Mike sound designed the hilarious movie Weird: The Al Yankovic Story. He’s also worked on the Netflix Song Exploder show, and the documentary Lucy and Desi.
The third guest is sound designer Zachary Quarles, who mainly works in video games. Zach has worked on legendary games like Fortnight, God of War, Quake, and many many more.
You’ll also hear our producer Grace East as the score keeper. So without further ado, crank up the volume, and get ready to play along.
[music transition into music in: WLDHRT - Get Loud [Christmas Version]]
Welcome to the fifth annual Twenty Thousand Hertz Mystery Sound Challenge. 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. And if two hints are given, the guesser will earn just a single point.
Three players will enter, only one will emerge victorious.
Now, here’s your host Dallas Taylor.
Okay, so intro, intro, intro, intro, intro, intro. So now, let's turn it over to Grace to introduce herself.
Grace: Well, welcome everyone, it's a joy to have you with us. Any questions about our scorekeeping or how it's gonna work?
Zach: Is there a negative?
Like Jeopardy?
Zach: Yeah. I'm gonna bet all my points immediately.
Grace: There are no consequences for guessing just about anything.
No consequences, and Grace is also negotiable, with her points.
Grace: I’m negotiable. Yeah.
And so if you just don't feel like it's fair, we'll probably…
Zach: What do you think about twelve points for this?
Grace: You know?
Alright, are we ready to go?
Austin: Ready to do my best. I make no other promises.
Zach: Yeah, let's get zeros!
Announcer: Sound number one.
[sfx: Sound Number 1]
Austin: Oh.
Zach: Wow.
Mike: Is this starting at maximum difficulty?
They're all going to be a little… You know, this is the sound designer mystery game, so it's going to be a little challenging.
Mike: Alright. Alright.
Austin: Are we allowed to request to hear it again?
Yes, absolutely.
Austin: Okay.
Zach: Yes, I request as well.
Austin: Yes.
[sfx: Sound Number 1]
Zach: I feel like I know this.
Austin: Yeah.
It's deep. You gotta dig deep.
Austin: Mmm. I have terrible memory. Oh no! Ah. Ugh.
Grace: You can always ask for hints too. We can agree as a group if we're ready for hint one.
Austin: I'm probably going to be requesting a lot of hints. Feel free to turn me down. Again, I'm a dialogue editor, um here guessing mystery sounds.
Zach: That was all dialogue, Austin!
That is true!
Austin: And I'm still lost. Okay, great. Awesome.
I will have to admit that this might be the hardest Mystery Sound game show of all time. So I'm just saying.
Mike: Oh, okay good. So my question was warranted. Yeah.
Yeah.
Grace: I do feel like we say that every year though.
We do say that. It just gets harder and harder.
Austin: You just keep ramping it up.
Grace: Yeah, exactly.
Zach: It's not from one of the earlier Evil Deads, is it?
No, Okay, so why don't I go with hint one.
Zach: Okay.
Hint one is this is a scene from a iconic 80s movie.
Zach: Okay.
Austin: 80s. Oh, ooh, okay. That completely shifts the frame of reference.
Mike: Kind of sounded like animation at first.
Austin: Can I hear it one more time?
[sfx: Sound Number 1]
Zach: Oh man, what is this?
Grace: I will say too, I feel like animation was like half right.
That is true, yeah.
Mike: Oh, that’s funny. Well, then should I...
Zach: So like a… Ah, um, like perhaps like a stop motion or claymation scenario.
Mike: Or a Roger Rabbit type situation.
I'll go ahead and go with hint number two, which is “The creature in this scene is known for his appetite, but not for his table manners.” This green creature is…
Austin: Oh.
Zach: Oh! It’s Ghostbusters.
[sfx: correct sound]
Austin: Yep. Yep. Yep.
Mike: There you go.
Austin: How? Oh.
Mike: I'm ashamed.
Zach: Yeah, I am too.
Austin: I’m also ashamed.
Grace: And wait, I'm still learning everyone's voices. Who got that one?
That was Zach.
Grace: That was Zach. Okay, perfect.
So let me do my reveal. So that's the scene from Ghostbusters, when Slimer charges down the hotel hallway at Bill Murray. Slimer's roar comes from a 1977 record called BBC Sound Effects Number 13, Death and Horror. And the specific track is called “The Mad Ape.” And here's a clip of that.
[clip: The Mad Ape]
Zach: I mean…
Mike: Beautiful.
Zach: The ape does sound mad, but that’s real.
Austin: Apt description.
I'm kind of blown away that Slimer was a library pull.
Zach: Yeah, I am too. That's, yeah.
Austin: Works though.
It works! If it works, who cares.
Zach: That’s right.
Grace: Yep.
Announcer: Sound number two.
[sfx: Sound Number 2]
Mike: I know this.
Zach: I don't know this.
Mike: It's the opening door for Lawson.
Lawson?
Mike: Oh, God. Family Mart!
[sfx: Correct Sound]
Boom! You got it. Ding ding ding.
Grace: Yeah! Wow! What a pull.
Austin: That was so quick on the draw. Oh my gosh.
Well, Mike just got back from Japan.
Mike: Hey, don't give away my secrets!
Mike: I just know that ‘cause I'm a genius, come on.
Zach: Yeah!
Grace: He was given inside intel, and traveled to Japan for this specific reason.
The dedication.
Austin: You know what? I respect the hustle.
Zach: Yep. Yep. That's hardcore.
Alright, so that's the chime that plays when you walk through the doors of a family mart, which is a popular chain of convenience stores in Japan.
[sfx: Sound Number 2]
And this chime was composed in 1978 by Yasushi Inada. Here he is in 2015 playing the melody on a piano.
[sfx: Family Mart chime on piano]
Zach: Oh, I wanna hear it with bagpipes. Can we do that?
Grace: Ooooh, now there’s an idea.
Mike: And has everyone been to Japan to experience that or…?
Zach: No.
Austin: I haven't. It's on the list.
Mike: Oh my god.
Austin: I’m looking forward to hearing it now.
Mike: A tuna mayo onigiri, and ooh hard boiled eggs in a bag. Oh man. I know it sounds crazy but egg salad sandwich?
Wow.
Grace: I’m fully in.
Zach: Yeah, “Hard Boiled Eggs in a Bag.” I'm going to start a band called that.
Austin: That's actually the name of my punk band. Sorry, it's already taken.
Zach: Okay, alright.
Announcer: Sound number three.
[sfx: Sound Number 3]
Mike: I would like to take a guess.
Zach: Do it.
Grace: Alright.
Mike: That is a willow ptarmigan.
[sfx: Correct Sound]
What!? Are you on our Google Doc?
Grace: What?
Zach: What the?
Austin: Are you kidding?
No, that's it.
Mike: Yeah. And I can give you a little… I can give you a little fun fact about that as well. Can I?
Oh, sure.
Grace: Oh my gosh, yes, I think we're all in awe.
Yeah.
Zach: Yeah.
Austin: Yeah. I'm not even mad. I'm just impressed.
Zach: Yeah, I mean, I'm just kind of surprised that Dallas thinks I leave my house.
Mike: Well, I mean, you might know it from the opening scene of Raiders of the Lost Ark.
[clip: Raiders of the Lost Ark]
Oooh!
Mike: And an interesting story behind that is that Ben Burtt threw that into the first scene, and Steven Spielberg was blown away because it made his movie feel very alien. So Ben Burtt was just like a hero to him from that point on.
Wow.
Zach: That’s super cool.
I'm getting out hosted by Mike.
Mike: I'm going to start playing some sounds for you guys, uh…
Grace: Yeah, right?
Well, here's my reveal. Those strange sounds were made by the willow ptarmigan, which is a type of pheasant found across the northern hemisphere. These birds are extremely vocal, and make a variety of noises when they are courting mates, fighting off rivals, and alerting others about nearby predators.
[sfx: Sound Number 3]
And I don't know if you know this, but at the beginning of Raiders, there were, it was, it was like played and it made this—
Mike: I’m so sorry.
Zach: Feels like I'm in The Matrix right now.
Austin: Yeah.
Very impressed. Very impressed, Mike.
Announcer: Sound number four.
[sfx: Sound Number 4]
Austin: Oh, oh, oh, that is the, um, uh, that's the, uh… That is the sound of the, um, oh, the, uh, Goombas when they do the little, uh, the little dance.
I think that counts.
Grace: I think that counts. Ding, ding, ding.
[sfx: Correct Sound]
Mike: Oh my gosh.
Austin: Okay, I’ll take that! I'll take that.
Zach: Yeah. Is it, is it Mario Wii U? Something like that?
Austin: Mario Party?
It's the iconic “pah pah” sound that plays throughout the soundtracks of the New Super Mario Bros. games.
[sfx: Sound Number 4]
Back in the 90s, composer Koji Kondo came across this track in a CD of vocal sounds made for sampling.
[sfx: Vocal Sample]
For Mario 64, Kondo used that to create the melody you hear after you jump into a painting.
[sfx: Mario 64 painting]
Then, he made it the signature sound in the music of New Super Mario Bros. Whenever these notes play in the game, the enemies on screen will hop or dance.
[clip: NSMB Music]
That’s what I remember.
Grace: Yeah.
Zach: That's great, yeah.
Austin: That's so deeply embedded into my childhood. Specifically, the sound married to the image of all, like the goombas of everything, of just turning forward and just doing a little dance.
Zach: Kinda doing their little sashay, kinda thing?
Austin: Yeah, and then immediately turning to their villainous work.
Zach: Even villains gotta dance.
Announcer: Sound number five.
[sfx: Sound Number 5]
Mike: Wow. What on earth?
Zach: It's me when I have gas.
Austin: How did we get a recording of that? I don't even want to know.
Mike: Yeah. Always at the ready.
Zach: I have other mics set up as well. Can I hear it again?
Mike: Yeah.
[sfx: Sound Number 5]
Austin: Are we allowed clues that wouldn't be considered a hint, or do we just need to roll into asking for one?
Oh, I would say it's an instrument.
Zach: Yeah. I was gonna say, is it one of those things? I can't remember what it is that’s uh—
Mike: Is it a Sonovox?
It is an instrument made out of wood.
Grace: Yes.
Mike: Oh!
Zach: Okay.
Austin: Uh, it's not from the Apprehension Engine, is it? No. No.
Zach: It’s not like a didgeridoo, or a…
Mike: Oh, yeah.
Zach: It's not like a bullroarer, ‘cause those have very—
Mike: No.
Zach: This almost has like a synthetic vocal kind of thing going on with It
Mike: Is it bowed?
Ooh, That's a great one. It is bowed.
Mike: Oh yeah. I know what this is, I just forget what the name of it is.
Zach: It's not an Erhu, right?
Nope.
Mike: It’s very—Yeah, it’s used for creature sounds, um…
Zach: Okay.
Grace: Another helpful hint is that it rhymes with an existing reed instrument.
Mike: Oh! A daxophone.
[sfx: Correct Sound]
Grace: Yeah!
Mike: Thank you.
Grace: Well done!
Zach: I was gonna call it a slow-bo.
Austin: That's actually the name of my ska band, um, so we will also have to discuss royalties for that one, too.
Zach: Ugh! Okay.
So those strange sounds come from an instrument called the Daxophone. It's like saxophone, but with a D. The instrument was invented in the late 1980s by a German experimental musician named Hans Reichel.
The Daxophone involves a vibrating wooden tongue, a cello bow, and a curved block of wood called a Dax. As the player slides the bow and the Dax along the tongue, it produces all kinds of strange vocal sounding tones. Here are a few more:
[sfx: daxophone sounds]
Zach: I love bizarre instruments. Like, I have a whole bunch of stuff, so I'm going to order one of these right now.
Mike: You can make some nasty creature sounds with it, too.
Zach: I bet.
I bet. So Grace, let's do a score check.
Grace: Okay. So everyone is on the board with at least a point. In first place, we've got Mike with seven, after those two direct pulls, Family Mart and the Willow Ptarmigan. Uh, in second place, we've got Austin with three. And in last place, now, but there's still plenty of time, we have Zach with one point.
Zach: I’m embarrassed for myself.
Austin: I'm just glad I got any points on the board, honestly. That was more than I was expecting for this entire thing.
Announcer: Sound number six.
[sfx: Sound Number 6]
Zach: I mean, it's some sort of goat or sheep thing, right?
Austin: Baby… baby goat? Uh, hmm.
I think that I should have led in with that free hint. So, it's like a reaction sound to an app on a computer.
Mike: Right.
Austin: Huh. Can we hear it one more time?
[sfx: Sound Number 6]
Mike: And it sounds old. Is this from a certain era?
Austin: Yeah.
Zach: It does sound old.
Mike: Or you could play it today? You could have this reaction sound today?
You could have this reaction sound today, although it's in a discipline that none of us would be… we're only very adjacent to.
Zach: Oh, okay. I was gonna say Goat Simulator, but no…
Austin: Hey, you don’t know how involved with Goat Simulator I am.
Zach: That’s true. That’s true.
Well, in this case, I'm going to just go with hint number two. So you may have heard this if you've ever worked on any motion graphics or VFX.
Mike: Oh, is this After Effects?
[sfx: Correct Sound]
That's it.
Grace: Ding ding ding!
Austin: Ah.
So it's the sheep noise that plays in Adobe After Effects when there's a render failure.
Mike: There you go.
And according to Adobe, the noise was recorded by the mom of one of the After Effects software developers.
Mike: Oh, wow.
Austin: Oh nice!
Mike: So it's a human.
I just imagine, I don't know, this person comes to the mom and they're like, “You're never going to believe this problem that I have.” And she's like, “I've got the solution!”
Grace: Yeah.
Austin: Yeah.
“It’s a sheep noise.”
Austin: “Say no more. I've got it.”
[sfx: Sound Number 6]
Announcer: Sound number seven.
[sfx: Sound Number 7]
Mike: Oh my God. Hard Copy?
Austin: Oh, oh.
No.
Zach: Uh, Access Hollywood?
Uh uh.
Zach: Entertainment Tonight?
Nope.
Grace: These are all so close. Orbiting.
Mike: Oh! A Current Affair.
Zach: Current Affair!
[sfx: Correct Sound]
Grace: Yeah!
Yeah.
Mike: Boom! I beat you by a millisecond, man.
Zach: Ah!
Mike: Oh, that is incredible. I love this.
That is the iconic “Kachung” sound from the intro of A Current Affair, a popular American news show from the 80s and 90s. And here's Maury Povich, the show's original host, describing how that sound was made.
Maury Povich: It was the sound of a construction paper cutter, the old time elementary school construction paper cutters, [sfx] and the swish of a golf club [sfx] put through a synthesizer. And that was the sound.
[sfx: Sound Number 7]
I have no idea how a, um, little, cutter made that.
Mike: Me neither.
I feel like Maury was just telling a story. I don't know if I trust Maury.
Zach: Yeah, I feel like he was just kind of like walking by someone that was talking about the sound at one point.
Austin: Yeah.
Zach: He’s like, “Oh! Okay, it's a cutter, I got it.”
It was like a game of telephone from the actual sound designer and all the steps that got to Maury Povich.
Mike: Yeah yeah yeah.
Zach: “This was made out of a boat.”
Announcer: Sound number eight.
[sfx: Sound Number 8]
Mike: The aliens from Arrival.
[sfx: Correct Sound]
Austin: Oh.
Grace: Wow.
Austin: Oh you, I was, oh my god. The neurons were still knitting together. You got it, ugh.
So, that's the language spoken by the aliens in the film Arrival. To create those sounds, the sound designers went into the mountains of New Zealand and recorded a variety of exotic birds. Then, they pitched these bird calls down, and combined them with recordings of didgeridoos, bagpipes, and a so-called “lung” that they made from rice paper.
[sfx: Sound Number 8]
Mike: I love the lung made out of rice paper. I love imagining what that looked like, ‘cause there's no video of it.
Zach: Yeah. I just love all of those words together, too. “Lung made out of rice paper.”
Grace: Yeah.
I feel like I could get that at some restaurant. “Give me the lung with rice paper.”
Grace: Rice paper.
Zach: Rice paper lung.
Mike: Oh my god.
Austin: “I’ll take one rice paper lung, thank you!”
Announcer: Sound number nine.
[sfx: Sound Number 9]
Austin: Is that the sound of a dolphin or…?
Grace: Not a dolphin.
Nope.
How about this? Let's play it again, but with three people who work in sound, I want you to try to paint the picture of what you're hearing in your head, and tell me what you think you're hearing.
[sfx: Sound Number 9]
Zach: I mean, it sounds like there's some sort of event happening with this creature, whether it be a bird or something else that people are watching and celebrating being, “Ooh! Ahh!” kind of thing.
Mm hmm.
Austin: Yeah, my brain went to like the SeaWorld shows, you know.
Mike: I immediately thought “bird,” and I felt like a mating dance or something? It's showing its plumage, and everyone's cheering.
Well, I will say, it is not a bird.
Zach: Kay.
We'll go one more time with it.
[sfx: Sound Number 9]
Mike: Could it be a howler monkey?
Zach: Yeah, I was going to say a monkey?
Hmm. I mean, depends on how you define… Um.
Zach: Lemur? Or…
Mike: Is it a monkey or an ape?
Um, this one's tricky. I'm going to go ahead and call this one, and just reveal it. How does that sound good, Grace?
Grace: Yeah. Sounds good.
Austin: I’m okay with that.
That's the voice of a nine year old British boy named Cooper Wallace.
Austin: Oh, you’re kidding me.
Cooper recently won the Junior category in Belgium's fourth annual Seagull Screeching Championship.
Mike: I saw this. I saw this video.
Austin: Oh my gosh. I mean, I can see why he placed that high.
Mike: There you go. He tricked us all.
He is good.
Zach: Oh, Dallas, Dallas, I forgot.
Yeah?
Zach: Like, that's from a kid that, uh, mimicked a seagull.
Yes, exactly. Yes.
Mike: That's a negative 12 points right there. Thinking you could get away with that.
Grace: I was wrong before. That is going to be a negative. No, I'm just kidding.
So in it, competitors are judged by their ability to sound and move like a seagull. Here's one of the winners from last year.
[sfx: Prior Seagull Screeching winner]
There you have it.
Grace: Incredible.
Mike: Wow.
Zach: I mean, those are aspirations, I guess, you know?
They are aspirations.
Austin: How do you even discover that talent?
Grace: I know.
Mike: It’s impressive.
Well, alright. We are halfway through. So Grace, what's our score?
Grace: Um, Mike is still in a strong lead with 14. Austin in second with 3, and Zach still in last place with 1, but there's still time.
Zach: Negative 11.
Grace: Negative 11.
Mike: That’s right.
Austin: Once again, are we doing Jeopardy rules, or not?
[music in: Guy Trevino & Friends - WLDHRT - Get Loud [Christmas Version]]
Do Austin and Zach have what it takes to wrestle first place away from Mike? Or will they be left in the dust?
That’s coming up, after the break.
MIDROLL
[music in: WLDHRT - Get Loud [Christmas Version]]
Welcome back to the Twenty Thousand Hertz Mystery Sound Challenge.
Announcer: Sound number ten. [sfx: Sound Number 10]
Zach: ICQ!
Austin: Oh, that's the sound of, uh, no, of, uh. There was a pix art thing when I was a kid, and when you, tried to do, something… It's a, it's like the After Effects, like, “Something Failed” sound. Of a, I don’t remember what it's called, but I can literally…
Zach: Oh, I thought it was… I thought it was ICQ, the notification.
[sfx: Correct Sound]
It is ICQ.
Mike: Oh yeah. I was about to say, I was going to say Instant Messenger, but it was more obscure than that.
Austin: I think that soundbite was, I had to take computer class in elementary school where we learned to type. And our reward was that we got to use like this very obscure, weird art program where we basically just got to draw on the computer. And whenever you tried to do something you weren't allowed to, I think they used that same soundbite.
Austin: And it—‘cause that is deeply embedded in my brain.
Zach: Yeah. I wonder if it was the same company, or just like used a library sound from somewhere.
Grace, this is going to be an interesting one.
Grace: I think so, too.
For other reasons.
Grace: Yeah for other—yeah.
So, that's the message notification sound from ICQ, one of the earliest instant messaging programs.
[sfx: Sound Number 10]
It was originally a competitor to AOL Instant Messenger, but was then bought out by AOL in 1998. And here are a few more ICQ sounds.
[sfx: More ICQ Sounds]
Mike: Ahh, memories.
Grace: The good old days.
Announcer: Sound number eleven.
[sfx: Sound Number 11]
Zach: It's not Resident Evil.
I'd love to hear, especially how your brains are working through this, as you analyze kind of the quality and—
Mike: Is it a toy?
Zach: Right. Yeah. Or is it PS1 time period?
Mike: Yeah, or is it low sample rate?
Yeah. You wanna play it one more time?
[sfx: Sound Number 11]
Mike: Is it like a Halloween decoration or something?
No.
Mike: Okay.
Austin: Is it from a physical object?
Ummm, it's from a classic arcade game.
Zach: Okay.
Austin: Ohhh.
Zach: Not House of the Dead, um…
Mike: Sega Genesis or Nintendo?
Zach: Or standup?
Mike: Or, yeah. Yeah, actual arcade.
Zach: Yeah, I thought it might be like an arcade game. Uh… Ah!, Uh, ohhh…
Ooh. Did it happen?
Austin: Hmm.
Zach: I think, I think my brain just popped. I think, I think my right, right. Disconnect.
One more go for Zach.
[sfx: Sound Number 11]
Zach: Uh it’s… Sinistar?
[sfx: Correct Sound]
You got it!
Mike: You're kidding me, that’s amazing!
Zach: Yes!
Grace: Nice!
Mike: Incredible.
That should be the full three, Grace.
Grace: Yeah, yeah,
I did say that first one, but I never really kind of led into it.
Grace: I’m fully open to the full three.
Mike: I agree with that.
Wow! Way to go, Zach.
Zach: Woof. Woof!
So that's the voice of Sinistar, the villain from the 1982 arcade game of the same name. Sinistar was one of the very first games to use real recordings of a human voice.
[sfx: Sound Number 11]
Those sound bites were recorded by John Doremus, who was a popular radio DJ in the Chicago area. And here's John on his radio program.
John Doremus: And for the London Festival Orchestra, a beauty. It's called, “If I Rule the World.”
What a voice.
Zach: Yeah. Especially when it's crushed into, like, 8 bit 11K.
Yeah, exactly.
Announcer: Sound number twelve.
[sfx: Sound Number 12]
Zach: Is it like an e-bow or something?
Austin: Oh, um, no, that's the, yeah, oh gosh, um, that's the opening of The Beatles’ “I Feel Fine,” isn't it?
[sfx: Correct Sound]
Ding, ding, ding.
Grace: Yes! Incredible.
Mike: Wow! Very cool.
Zach: Good for you! Nice! Nice! Nice!
Austin: I was raised by a Beatles diehard fan in my father, so I know their discography very well.
Amazing.
Zach: Impressive.
Grace: Incredible.
So guitar feedback from the beginning of the Beatles song, “I Feel Fine.” During a recording session, John Lennon casually leaned his guitar against an amp, and it made that noise. The band liked the sound, and asked producer George Martin to include it somewhere on their upcoming album.
Today, it's widely considered the first intentional use of feedback in recorded music. And here's the sound going into the actual song.
[clip: The Beatles - I Feel Fine]
Austin: Shout out to my dad for that one.
Nice.
Announcer: Sound number thirteen.
[sfx: Sound Number 13]
Austin: Oh. My brain recognizes it, but oh, oh no.
Mike: Same.
Zach: It’s uh, entering a Japanese grocery store.
Grace: So close!
Austin: Ohh, I know that I know that sound. I'm having a hard time putting it in the frame that I need.
Mike: Yeah.
Austin: Can we hear it one more time?
[sfx: Sound Number 13]
Zach: I mean it could be any number of sitcoms, or Family Guy, or…
Mike: I think it's more like a “Welcome” for an application or something…
Zach: Application?
Mike: For like an old one.
Austin: Can we request hint?
Absolutely. You should feel smart after hearing this sound.
Mike: Oh, okay.
Zach: From a game show?
Mike: It’s congratulatory…
Austin: I'm never gonna forgive myself for not getting this, I swear.
Grace: We're orbiting. We're getting closer, for sure.
One of the greatest things about this show is that there are many thousands of people who are yelling…
Austin: I know. I’m yelling at myself internally. I'm having the same experience in my own brain right now.
Mike: It's not Hollywood Squares, or…
Hint number two. You should feel especially smart if you hear this sound on a Saturday versus a Monday,
Zach: It's not, uh, Wait, Wait, Don't Tell Me, is it?
Mike: It's a show?
Austin: No.
It’s actually coming from an app.
Zach: From an app.
Mike: Yeah, okay, that's what I thought.
Austin: Oh! Um, it's, uh, uh, uh…
Zach: Is it the crossword?
Austin: New York Times.
[sfx: Correct Sound]
Austin: Dang it. I knew it. Ahh!
Zach: Yeah.
Here's the thing, I heard… Zach said “crossword.”
Zach: I said “crossword.”
Austin said “New York Times.”
Austin: And I started saying “New York Times.”
Mike: “New York Times,” yeah.
Grace: I think I'm gonna split it 1/1, yeah.
Yeah,
Zach: Alright.
Austin: I'll take that. I’ll take that.
Zach: Excellent.
So that's the jingle that plays when you correctly solve the New York Times crossword puzzle on the New York Times app.
[sfx: Sound Number 13]
The tune is called “San Jose Strut,” and a few years ago, the New York Times Games account tweeted that it came from some music library, but they couldn't remember the name of the composer. So if anyone knows who this composer is, please let us know.
Zach: Okay.
Austin: Okay.
Zach: Okay.
Five sounds left. Grace?
Grace: That's right.
How are we with score?
Grace: The scores have evened quite a bit. So there's been some movement. Mike is still in the lead with 14. Zach has pulled into second with 8. And Austin is a very close third with 7.
Zach: It's getting serious, everyone.
Mike: Getting scared.
Austin: Let's lock in.
Announcer: Sound number fourteen.
[sfx: Sound Number 14]
Zach: Ha!
Mike: Oh my god.
Zach: Uh, that is a toy of some kind.
Mike: Yes.
Zach: Umm, that is…
Austin: Is it? Ahh, it's not. It's not.
Mike: Oh, I know this.
Austin: Can we hear it one more time?
[sfx: Sound Number 14]
Mike: I had this toy. I mean, this is so…
Grace: Can you, like, describe the toy? I'm wondering if that will trigger a memory.
He's gone into the Upside Down.
Zach: Oh no.
Austin: His eyes have rolled into the back of his head.
Mike: It’s all darkness. Yeah. Oh my god.
So this thing is probably friends with Tickle Me Elmo.
Zach: Yeah, yeah, okay. I mean, that's, uh, it's definitely not a Teddy Ruxpin.
Mike: No.
Austin: I'm thinking about the specificity of the line of, like, “on my head.”
Mike: “Am I repeating myself?” Yeah, well that's actually the, the “repeating myself” one is the one that's getting me.
Austin: Oh.
So hint number two. It shares a name with Forrest Gump's best friend.
Zach: Bubba Gump. Bubba.
Mike: Bubba something.
Zach: Bubba.
Austin: Bubba.
Mike: Oh, man.
Austin: Ahh.
Zach: Bubba.
Mike: I mean, if we're still not getting it.
Austin: If we just repeat Bubba over and over again, it'll come to us eventually.
Zach: Bubba!
Mike: Keep going.
Grace: We’re summoning him into the room now.
Alright, I will reveal it. So that's the voice of Real Talkin’ Bubba, a wisecracking teddy bear that was released by Mattel in the mid 90s.
[sfx: Sound Number 14]
Bubba was voiced by character actor Gary Grubbs, who appeared in everything from Dukes of Hazzard to Django Unchained to Glee. Here's Gary playing a sheriff on the X-Files.
Gary Grubbs: Well, we didn't find any evidence of criminal activity, and since no body turned up, we just went ahead and filed a missing person’s report.
Zach: Mm-Hmm.
There you have it.
Grace: Just a super normal choice for a teddy bear.
Mike: Yeah.
Austin: Hey, he saw the chance to really make a character, and he took it.
Grace: He took it.
Announcer: Sound number fifteen.
[sfx: Sound Number 15]
Zach: Oof.
Austin: Ooh.
Mike: Some kind of Welcome music.
Austin: Yeah.
I think you are correct on that.
Austin: Can we hear it one more time?
[sfx: Sound Number 15]
Mike: Is this a 90s thing?
No.
Zach: Yeah, it sounds super 90s.
Mike: No?
Zach: It’s not?
No. It looks like the mid aughts.
Zach: The mid aughts.
Austin: Huh.
Yeah.
Austin: Hint?
Uh, so it's a device sound,
Zach: Okay.
Austin: Okay.
And you may recognize this if you're too hip for both Windows and Mac.
Mike: Linux.
Austin: Linux.
Mm mm. Even too cool for Linux, too.
Austin: Oh!
Mike: Oh!
Grace: Linux is very close though, I will say.
Mike: Gugh! I am disappointing some of my friends right now, by not knowing what this is. This is my era!
Zach: It’s not like, yeah, Amiga?
Mike: Oh.
Zach: It wasn’t Amiga, ‘cause Amiga was already gone by, mid two thousands. Wasn't it? Um…
Mike: This is killing me.
Austin: Yeah.
I am happy to reveal this. So that's the old login sound for the Ubuntu operating system.
[sfx: Sound Number 15]
Mike: Yes! Okay.
Austin: Ohhh.
Zach: Ah yeah! Yeah, so very very Linux-adjacent.
Yeah, so be sure to cut my thing about not Linux.
I don't want a bunch of people coming after me.
Mike: Yeah, that's uh...
So that sound was apparently created by a community contributor named Peter Savage. It was enabled by default for about six years, from 2006 to 2012. Since then, Ubuntu hasn't had a login sound enabled by default.
Austin: Hmm, alright.
Announcer: Sound number sixteen.
[sfx: Sound Number 16]
Zach: Oh, uh Miramax. Or no, TriStar.
No and no.
Zach: No and no?
Mike: Oh, God. Here, here we go. Just start naming production companies.
Zach: Yeah, here we go.
Austin: Can you play it again?
[sfx: Sound Number 16]
Mike: Uh, Amblin? Uh, no…
Austin: Uh, uh..
Zach: United Artists?
No and no.
Grace: No.
Austin: Skydance?
Not Skydance.
Mike: Holy wow.
Austin: Ugh. Ugh. This is gonna drive me nuts.
Zach: Uh, it's not Columbia Pictures, is it?
This would be a great time to just be like, “That’s our show, and see ya later!”
Mike: Noooo!
Zach: And then, like, the credits are rolling and we're just still saying, “Uh, Warner Brothers! Uhhh.”
Mike: Here’s what’s interesting, I think this might be television.
I think that's fair to say.
Austin: Television.
Mike: Okay. Uhh, at the end of sitcoms, this is, uh…
Zach: Yeah, okay, okay.
Mike: See I’m… I'm there. I just can't… I can’t…
Zach: Can’t—Which one is it!?
Austin: Oh, uh… Oh, no. No no no no.
[sfx: Sound Number 16]
Mike: Oh my God. I see it! I see it, you guys.
Zach: I know! Oh my god.
Mike: Help!
I love how iconic this sound is, and yet, out of all the times you've heard it, you can't even come up with the name of the company.
Austin: Yeah.
Mike: Oh my goodness.
Austin: Can we request a formal hint?
Sure. Well, we've already kind of gotten through hint number one, so we'll consider hint number one this one. You might have heard this sound after episodes of Seinfeld.
Austin: Oh. Uh.
Zach: Oh.
Mike: Yeah, but what’s the production company?
Zach: Yeah, yeah.
Austin: Uh.
Zach: Oh my god. Um…
Austin: I knew there was gonna come a time in my life where I regretted not having a Seinfeld phase. Oh my god.
Mike: And I did have a Seinfeld phase and I can't, I—It's so at my fingertips.
Zach: Can I hear it one more time?
[sfx: Sound Number 16]
Zach: That’s… That’s not Castle Rock, is it?
[sfx: Correct Sound]
That’s Castle Rock.
Mike: Whoa, okay.
Grace: Oh my god, yes!
Mike: Whoa, okay. I would never have gotten that. I would never have gotten that. But now, of course, it makes sense.
Austin: Yep.
Grace: Incredible.
Way to pull that out of nowhere.
Austin: Yeah.
Mike: Dude, amazing.
Grace: Wow Zach, nice.
So that’s the iconic sonic logo of the Castle Rock Production Company. The music in the logo was written by composer Mark Shaiman, who scored films like When Harry Met Sally, Hocus Pocus, and Patch Adams.
The version you heard was the shorter TV version of the logo, and here's the full theatrical version.
[sfx: Castle Rock Theatrical]
Mike: Mm hmm.
Austin: Yeah.
Zach: Yep, yep.
Mike: Much more cinematic.
Zach: Yeah, and it would have been the full one, I also would have thrown out Dreamworks in there, ‘cause that also has like a Dreamworks vibe.
Grace: Yeah. Totally.
Austin: Very Dreamworks-adjacent.
Yeah.
Zach: Mm hmm.
Announcer: Sound number seventeen.
[sfx: Sound Number 17]
Zach: Oh. It’s a Tauntaun.
[sfx: Correct Sound]
It's a Tauntaun.
Grace: Yes!
Mike: It's a Tauntaun, you beat me to it.
Grace: Well done.
Austin: Mmm hmm. Same.
So that's the sound of the Tauntaun, the snow creature that Luke Skywalker rides in The Empire Strikes Back.
[sfx: Sound Number 17]
To create the sound of the Tauntaun, sound designer Ben Burtt recorded an Asian sea otter and pitched it down. And here's actor Bill Hader doing a Tauntaun imitation for Conan O'Brien.
[sfx: Bill Hader Tauntaun]
Alright, we have one final sound. Where are we with scores?
Grace: Alright. So, Zach is creeping up, but Mike still has the lead with 14. Zach is in a close second with 12, and Austin is in third with seven.
Austin: Sounds good.
Alright. Is everyone—all the ears ready?
Austin: I guess so.
Announcer: Sound number eighteen.
[sfx: Sound Number 18]
Austin: That is… I feel like from that same program that I was talking about earlier. That same…
Zach: The art one that you're talking about?
Austin: Yes, I swear they used that same soundbit…
Mike: What?
Austin: ‘Cause that's, that is where my brain…I'm not even joking, somebody out there, listening, maybe knows what I'm talking about. Or, uh, something. I, ugh... I can't even remember the name of what the program was I just remember, sitting there as a kid. Ugh…
Grace: You are so close.
Austin: Am I?
So close that I'm—I would give it to you.
Grace: I—Yeah, it feels right.
Mike: You’re kidding.
Austin: Uh.
There was a moment earlier where I told Grace, I was like, “Well, that's interesting!” On another one…
Mike: Oh, because it was coming up.
Because I knew that this one was coming up, and I was—had no familiarity with it.
Zach: I mean…
Mike: CorelDRAW?
Austin: No, it was called like KidPix or something like that.
[sfx: Correct Sound]
That’s it. Ding ding ding.
Zach: Nice!
Grace: Yesssss!
Mike: Wow! I'm applauding right now.
Austin: Oh my god! Say “psych” right now. Say “psych” right now.
Zach: Yes, Austin! Yeaaah!
Mike: I am blown away. What an ending.
Me too.
Grace: Incredible! Full circle.
Austin: That was cinematic.
Zach: That was!
Mike: You could not have written that. That’s amazing.
Zach: Whoo, I’m gonna have to lay down.
Austin: I am not crazy. I am not crazy!
You are not crazy.
So that's the voice of the Undo Guy from KidPix, which was a series of drawing programs, kind of Microsoft Paint. In later versions of KidPix, whenever you'd click the Undo button, the Undo Guy would say phrases like these.
Undo Guy: Oh no! Undo, undo! I made a boo boo, yeah!
Austin: Mmm hmm. Every one of those is embedded deep in my brain.
Zach: So was the ICQ sound part of that program then?
Maybe it was something real similar.
Austin: It could also be me completely misremembering [sfx: beep]
Update. We looked into it, and it turns out there is an Uh Oh in Kid Pix that sounds super similar to the one in ICQ. Here's Kid Pix…
[sfx: Kid Pix Uh Oh]
And here's ICQ.
[sfx: ICQ Uh Oh]
Here they are back to back.
[sfx: Both Uh Ohs]
So Austin, you were not misremembering.
Austin: I'm just glad I got that last one, honestly.
This may be the closest score that we've ever had.
Grace: I was literally just about to say that, Dallas. I think so too. I'm super impressed. We had, in a very close third place, Austin with 10. Uh, Zach in a meteoric rise to second place, 12. And Mike, with the winning score of 14.
Zach: Incredible. Incredible.
Austin: We were within 4 points of each other?
Mike: Amazing. I love it.
Zach: Nice work, Mike. Nice work, Austin.
Incredible. And I curated the three of you into this, knowing how good this would be. So thank you.
Austin: Aww.
Wow, well… I didn't have an ending. That's it. That's the final score.
Austin: That’s it.
Then we have “Ding ding dings,” we basically say—
Mike: What an ending!
[music sneaks in: indoorcat - jingle bells]
We make people laugh and fade in the music while people are laughing. And then, there we go. Credits.
Austin: Yeah.
Zach: Yeah I think, maybe just put the Castle Rock theme at the end.
Mike: Oh, that would be fun.
Mike: Love it.
Grace: Wait, that’s it. Done.
We should do that. Yeah.
Austin: Perfect button.
Grace: Print it.
Twenty Thousand Hertz is produced out of the sound design studios of Defacto Sound. Hear more at Defacto Sound dot com.
Other Voices: This episode was written and produced by Casey Emmerling, with help from Grace East. It was sound designed and mixed by Justin Hollis.
Thanks to our guests, Austin Olivia Kendrick, Mike James Gallagher, and Zachary Quarles.
Austin has an incredible TikTok channel, under the name AOK dot wav. Over there, she posts tons of enlightening videos about dialogue editing and sound design techniques.
Mike runs an awesome Youtube and Instagram channel called Indepth Sound Design, where legendary sound designers unpack their most famous sounds.
Zach has an online shop of sample and sound effect libraries, which you can find at his website, ZQ dash SFX dot com. There are links to all of these in the show notes.
Finally, thanks to voice artist Jeff Rechner for his awesome game show voice.
I’m Dallas Taylor. And from everyone here at Twenty Thousand Hertz, happy holidays and thanks for listening.
[sfx: Castle Rock TV logo]
