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Twenty Thousand Hertz

Creature Speakers: The art of voicing monsters

Twenty Thousand Hertz

Dallas Taylor

Design, Music, Music Commentary, Arts

4.94.5K Ratings

🗓️ 27 October 2021

⏱️ 32 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

To give voices to the frightening monsters in movies, TV shows, and video games, sound designers often start with animal noises, then apply all kinds of creative processing. But other times, these sounds begin with human voice actors, who absolutely shred their vocal cords for our entertainment. In this episode, we learn the tricks of the terrifying trade. Featuring voice actors DB Cooper and Michael Schwalbe, and sound designer/composer Jordan Chin. Twenty Thousand Hertz is produced by ⁠Defacto Sound⁠. Subscribe on⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠YouTube⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ to see our video series. If you know what this week's mystery sound is, tell us at⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠mystery.20k.org⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠. Support the show and get ad-free episodes at⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠20k.org/plus⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠. Follow Dallas on⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Instagram⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠,⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠TikTok⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠,⁠ ⁠Facebook⁠⁠, and⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠LinkedIn⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠. Join our community on⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Reddit⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠. Buy Monster Train and its soundtrack on Steam. Get 10% off your first month of BetterHelp at betterhelp.com/20k. Visit zocdoc.com/hertz to download the Zocdoc app and sign up for free. Get 20% off The Prisoner Wine Company (plus shipping included) at theprisonerwine.com/hertz. Episode transcript, music, and credits can be found here: https://www.20k.org/episodes/creaturespeakers Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0

It's a new year and many of us are committing to exercising and eating healthier.

0:04.8

But another crucial part of staying healthy is keeping on top of your doctor appointments.

0:09.8

That's where Zoc Doc comes in.

0:12.0

Stop putting off those doctors appointments and go to Zocdoch.com slash Hertz to find and instantly book a top-rated doctor today.

0:19.7

That's Z-O-C-D-O-C dot com slash H-E-R-T-Z.

0:24.1

Zococ-D-C-com slash Hertz.

0:30.8

Before we get started, a quick heads-up. This episode talks about video game violence and scary monsters.

0:36.7

It's nothing too intense, but if you have small kids, they might not really like it.

0:40.7

So if you have little ears around, I'll give you a few seconds to pause.

0:47.8

Okay, are they gone?

0:49.6

Here we go.

0:52.9

You're listening to 20,000 Hertz.

0:57.2

I'm Dallas Taylor.

1:10.2

Monster movies have been around since the earliest days of cinema.

1:13.6

Movies like Nosferatu, The Golem, and Phantom of the Opera were some of the biggest hits of the silent film era.

1:20.6

But once movies got sound in the late 1920s, these creatures were brought to life with creative and terrifying sound design.

1:36.3

That was the roar of King Kong from back in 1933.

1:39.3

King Kong's voice was famously made by mixing the growls of lions and tigers.

1:49.0

Then what they did was reverse the tape.

1:53.0

And sprinkled in a few human grunts.

1:58.0

Here's our modern recreation.

2:03.1

20 years later, we were introduced to Godzilla, whose iconic roar was made by sliding a leather

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