When Everything Stopped, He Started Listening

When Everything Stopped, He Started Listening

From Twenty Thousand Hertz by Dallas Taylor

February 23, 2026 · 28 min · Episode 234

About this episode

David Jeffers shares his journey of understanding the world through sound and how he rebuilt his life after a significant loss.

David Jeffers has always understood the world through sound. As a kid, he bounced beats between tape decks and built speaker boxes from spare parts. After college, he founded an underground hip hop label. Then came the day that split his life in two. And in the quiet that followed, David started listening more deeply… and piece by piece, he built a new life, guided not by what he lost, but what he could create. For news about ⁠Quad Life⁠, the upcoming documentary about David, follow Quad_Life_Doc on ⁠Instagram⁠. Explore David’s sound design work and book with him at ⁠quadriphonicsound.com⁠. Twenty Thousand Hertz is produced by ⁠Defacto Sound⁠. Support the show and get ad-free episodes at ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠20k.org/plus⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠. Subscribe on ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠YouTube⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ to see our video series. If you know what this week's mystery sound is, tell us at ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠mystery.20k.org⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠. Follow Dallas on ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Instagram⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠, ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠TikTok⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠, ⁠Facebook⁠, and ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠LinkedIn⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠. Join our community on ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Reddit⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠. Explore incredible speakers, soundbars, and more at ⁠sonos.com⁠. Get 3 months of free payroll at ⁠gusto.com/20k⁠. Sign up for a one-dollar-per-month Shopify trial at…

People in this episode

Host: Dallas Taylor

Guest: David Jeffers

Topics covered

  • sound design
  • personal transformation
  • music industry
  • listening
  • creativity

Keywords

  • sound
  • music
  • hip hop
  • creativity
  • transformation
  • listening
  • documentary

Sponsors

Gusto, Shopify, Quo

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: Quad Life, Defacto Sound, quadriphonicsound.com, Sonos, Megaphone

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