Slot Machines

Twenty Thousand Hertz

Dallas Taylor

Music, Design, Arts, Music Commentary

4.8 • 4.1K Ratings

🗓️ 23 July 2018

⏱️ 21 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

What do you hear when you walk into a Casino? It can feel like chaos, but each sound is carefully curated to draw you in and make you stay. One collection of sounds are scientifically and artistically designed to keep the gambler, gambling. Slot machines. This episode features interviews with Willie Wilcox, Chief Sound Designer at Scientific Games in Las Vegas, Laura Taylor, composer and sound designer for a number of slot machines across the US, and Karen Collins, who has led extensive research into the sound and music behind these games. Is it addiction or entertainment? Maybe it's both. Pull the lever and listen for yourself. Twenty Thousand Hertz is produced out of the studios of Defacto Sound and hosted by Dallas Taylor. Consider supporting the show at donate.20k.org Episode transcript, music, and credits can be found here: https://www.20k.org/episodes/slotmachines Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	Before we get started, I want to recommend another show, though it's not really a podcast
0:05.4	in the traditional sense.
0:07.0	It's called 12-Hour Sound Machines, and it was created by a dad who was trying to help
0:11.6	his baby fall asleep at night.
0:13.5	He wanted relaxing sounds that would last the whole night, without any fades or loops.
0:18.4	When he couldn't find any, he started making these sounds himself.
0:21.7	Today, over 1.3 million people use these sounds to relax and fall asleep too.
0:27.5	Recently, 12-Hour Sound Machines made a custom sound for 20,000 Hertz.
0:31.4	It's called Purple Noise, which is inspired by our swirly purple icon.
0:36.3	To hear a taste of some soothing purple noise, stick around until the end of the episode.
0:48.1	You're listening to 20,000 Hertz.
0:50.3	The stories behind the world's most recognizable and interesting sounds.
0:54.3	I'm Dallas Taylor.
0:58.5	The sound you just heard is what casinos use to lure people in and keep them there.
1:05.1	There's the sound of the cards, the chips, the craps table, but there's one game that's
1:12.2	particularly effective at keeping people playing.
1:16.7	The slot machines.
1:27.5	Modern casinos earn over 70% of their revenue off of slots.
1:31.3	That's a dramatic increase from the 1970s, when it was less than 50% in most casinos.
1:36.8	A lot of it has to do with the advancements in gaming technology.
1:40.4	Slot machines today are very different from their predecessors.
1:46.3	They're now more like video games.
	...

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