Defying Gravity: The Audio Wizardry of Wicked's Live Vocals

Twenty Thousand Hertz

Dallas Taylor

Music, Design, Arts, Music Commentary

4.8 • 4.1K Ratings

🗓️ 19 November 2025

⏱️ 37 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

In movie musicals, the vocals are almost never recorded live on-set. Instead, the actors pre-record their songs, then lip sync to those recordings while filming. But on Wicked, they threw out the rulebook, and recorded all of the lead vocals live. In this episode, Production Sound Mixer Simon Hayes reveals how they pulled off this audio feat. From cleverly disguised lav mics and in-ear monitors, to “silent wind” machines, to a jaw-dropping live performance of “Defying Gravity,” this is the story behind a truly magical production. 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, and ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠LinkedIn⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠. Join our community on ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Reddit⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ and follow us on ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Facebook⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠. Explore incredible speakers, soundbars and more at ⁠sonos.com⁠. Get 50% off your first box of Factor Meals + free breakfast for a year at factormeals.com/tth50off. Subscribe to Working Smarter wherever you get your podcasts. Sign up for a one-dollar-per-month trial at ⁠⁠⁠shopify.com/20k⁠⁠⁠. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

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0:56.2	new Factor customers with a code and a qualifying auto-renewing subscription purchase.
1:04.5	The holidays are approaching fast, and it's time to get those gifts in order. With Sonos,
1:10.5	you can give someone the gift of audio
1:12.4	bliss without having to face the Black Friday crowds. That's because Sonos has a Black Friday sale running from November 20th through December 1st. During that time, you can get up to 30% off their incredible speakers and soundbars, whether it's a portable Sonos move 2,
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1:36.6	That's S-O-N-O-N-O-S dot com.
1:40.2	You're listening to 20,000 Hertz.
1:45.1	The stories behind the world's most iconic and fascinating sounds.
1:50.8	I'm Dallas Taylor.
	...

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