Dallas Taylor (3:01)

for reference. Those are huge speakers for a very small car.

David Jeffers (3:05)

The first time you get in a car and you just feel that power, it was loud. It felt rebellious and almost was like a mini concert.

Interviewer (3:17)

At what point did you meet your wife? Where were you and when did you meet her?

David Jeffers (3:22)

The first time or the second time?

Dallas Taylor (3:24)

Ooh, let's start with the first time.

Interviewer (3:25)

I want to hear both times.

David Jeffers (3:27)

All right. Well, the first time I was a senior in high school and she was a junior in high school. We went to two different high schools, and I guess because of friends was real popular at the time. We found ourselves hanging out at this local coffee shop. One day, we're just hanging out, and I see these two girls come into the coffee shop. I'm like, oh, man, she's pretty. You know, I wouldn't mind talking to her. But, you know, I wasn't like the girl crazy, just walking up to girls and talking to them. So my friends were like, oh, we're gonna hook y' all up. You're gonna talk to her. So my friend basically makes the introduction. So that's how we first met. We went to the movies, and it turns out she was spending the night at a friend's house who went to a club. So she couldn't go home until her friend got back. So we ended up staying out super late waiting for her friend to get back. I get home, I get in trouble for staying out too late. And that kind of soured things for me on the first go around. So we really didn't talk too much after that.

Dallas Taylor (4:37)

Soon after, David and Ricardo graduated high school and David left for college.

David Jeffers (4:42)

So I go off to A and T, and that's in Greensboro. My sophomore year, I'm walking across campus and guess who I see? My current wife, Yasmin. And we started talking, and pretty quick after that, we were dating.

Dallas Taylor (4:59)

In college, David studied mechanical engineering. What did you think you would be

Interviewer (5:04)

doing with that mechanical engineering degree? Like, what was your goal at the time?

David Jeffers (5:09)

To get a design position at an automotive company. You know, I love cars. That's another one of my loves. Honestly, at that young age, I just was like, any way I can get in, I'll be happy with it.

Interviewer (5:21)

Do you see that connection between that systems based thinking and the way that you approach sound design now?

David Jeffers (5:30)

Oh, yeah, definitely. You know, I'll look at something that needs to be sound design and try to, like, picket it apart into individual components and then try to rebuild the total sound, combining different components of sound to make the final product for lack of a better word.

Dallas Taylor (5:51)

After college, David and Yasmin moved to Detroit, where David worked for Ford.

David Jeffers (5:57)

I actually landed up in vehicle testing, which was really fun and interesting.

Sponsor/Producer Voice (6:02)

Then one day he got an email from his old friend Ricardo.

David Jeffers (6:06)

He was like, hey, man, we need to crank this machine up. We need to do some more music. And we started a online record label called Nablina Records.

Dallas Taylor (6:17)

Nablina was an underground hip hop label that David and Ricardo led in the early 2000s. This track is from one of their compilations. It's called Forward by Canadian rapper Eternian.

Eternian (6:28)

Yeah, Spectacular with the vernacular. You know I rock it Another diddly for that digiplayer in your pocket on top of the rhythm Filling it with the rhyme don't stop it, lock it down.

Interviewer (6:39)

How does that hip hop background influence your sound design approach?

David Jeffers (6:43)

My style of hip hop production was primarily sampling, and I feel like sound design is really just sampling on a whole nother level. You're taking bits and pieces of sound from, from all these different places, putting them back together to make something new and something beautiful.

Dallas Taylor (7:04)

While David enjoyed his job at Ford, Detroit wasn't the right fit for him and Yasmin.

David Jeffers (7:09)

So her mom had moved to Charlotte, North Carolina. So I was like, hey, why don't you move with your mom, try to find a job and then I'll try to find a job down there.

Dallas Taylor (7:20)

So Yasmin relocated to Charlotte, and David soon followed. They got married and had their first child.

David Jeffers (7:27)

So at that time, I was working at a bearing manufacturing company doing test engineering. It wasn't my dream job, but that was when family life was really my main focus. My oldest son, Jackson, he was 2 years old at the time, and Yasmin

Dallas Taylor (7:45)

was pregnant with their second.

David Jeffers (7:47)

So it was 100% dad mode at that time.

Dallas Taylor (7:53)

And then came the most pivotal day in David's life.

David Jeffers (7:56)

We were planning a big, I would say my first real family vacation. And we were headed to the beach. It was actually our first day really being there at the beach for a full day. The water's kind of rough. Tide's coming in. Really not too many people in the water, but I decided to go in and Jackson, he's playing in the sand on the beach. My wife is chilling with Jackson, and my nephew, who was about 15 at the time, was there hanging out with us as well. I was in the water and I saw a big wave coming. And you know how you can dive through the wave to kind of cut it so it doesn't hit you so hard. So I've Done that a million times. So I go. I dive through the wave. And I didn't know it, but apparently there was a sandbar or something just ahead of me where I dove. And I hit my head on the sandbar, and immediately I knew that was it. I couldn't move. I couldn't do anything. And I'm in the water just like, oh, my God, am I gonna drown? You know, please don't let me Dr.

Interviewer (9:16)

Were you in pain?

David Jeffers (9:18)

No, Actually, it was the crazy part. I really did not feel anything. I don't remember being in any kind of pain.

Interviewer (9:26)

Are you able to call out or anything? How did you get out?

David Jeffers (9:29)

Yeah, luckily, since I was on the sandbar, it wasn't that deep. I was able to call out to my nephew, and he thought I was playing at first, and so he didn't come immediately. And then all of a sudden, I guess he realizes, you know, like, I'm not moving. And my wife kind of stands up and she realizes. And so my nephew gets over there first and tries to pull me out.

Dallas Taylor (9:54)

This is Yasmin's recollection of that day from a documentary about David.

Yasmin (9:59)

My nephew was able to pull him out of the water. And David said to me. He said, I'm sorry. He said, I just ruined our lives. And I said, no, you're probably just in shock. Like, there's no way. And he's like, no. He said, I broke my neck. I hurt it. I'm sorry. I have ruined our lives.

David Jeffers (10:25)

I remember being on the beach. A couple people came over, and luckily, a lady was on the beach that happened to be a doctor, and she was like, stop. Don't move him anymore. You can make it worse. Then after that, things get a little bit foggy, but I'm still there. I'm still awake. And I remember getting on the gurney, and they had to take me up to a parking lot where this crazy wind just started hitting me in sand because, you know, they had to call a helicopter. And the last thing I remember is being in the helicopter. And I think at that point, they gave me some sort of pain medicine or something to knock me out, I guess. But that's when I don't really remember a lot from there until I'm actually at the hospital about to go into surgery.

Dallas Taylor (11:18)

That's coming up after the break. When you're running a small business, it's easy to get bogged down in the busy work for me. With both 20,000 Hz and defacto sound, the things I love the most are creative projects. And high level strategy. But early on I was knee deep in the minutiae of tax forms, payroll benefits and an endless to do list. So when I found Gusto, it was a huge relief. Gusto is online payroll and benefits software built for small businesses. It's all in one remote, friendly and incredibly easy to use so you can pay, hire onboard and support your team from anywhere. Basically, Gusto handles the stuff that used to eat up my workday. Automatic payroll tax filing, simple direct deposits tracking, PTO and overtime. It's all built in. We even get access to certified HR experts. If something tricky comes up, try gusto today@gusto.com 20k and get three months free when you run your first payroll. That's three months of free payroll@gusto.com 20K. Once again, that's gusto.com 20K Congratulations to Emmy Paternostro for getting last episode's mystery sound right. That's the audio logo of the game

Sponsor/Producer Voice (12:40)

company Capcom, specifically the Super Nintendo version.

Dallas Taylor (12:44)

That sound was made by composer Yasuaki Fujita, who is also one of the composers for Mega Man 3 and Breath of Fire. Here's a newer version of that logo where the sound evolves from a chiptune sound to a more modern one. And here's this episode's mystery sound. If you know that sound, tell us at the web address mystery.2000. Anyone who guesses it right will be entered to win a super soft 20,000Hz T shirt. Starting a new business can be terrifying. When I launched 20,000 hertz, I remember lying awake thinking what if no one gets it? What if it just immediately fizzles out? But sometimes you just have to take that leap. And that's where Shopify comes in. Shopify is the commerce platform behind millions of businesses around the world and 10% of all e commerce in the US they have hundreds of ready to use templates to build a web store that makes your brand stand out. Their AI tools can help write product

Sponsor/Producer Voice (13:58)

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Dallas Taylor (14:07)

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Sponsor/Producer Voice (14:09)

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Dallas Taylor (14:33)

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Interviewer (15:34)

Okay, so there's a helicopter that takes you to Wilmington to put you into surgery. And I'm assuming surgery is to examine the extent of the damage or keep it from becoming worse in some way?

David Jeffers (15:48)

Yeah, I guess it was both to see the damage. I'm assuming they did scans and all types of stuff before the surgery, but they had to put fixtures in my neck to help everything heal because I shattered one of my vertebrae and cracked another one. So now I have a fake vertebrae and some metal structure in my neck to kind of hold all that together. And I also had to get a halo, which is you've probably seen in movies on tv, the big thing that goes around your head into your shoulders. So basically, you can't move your head at all.

Interviewer (16:30)

So there's this period of recovery. Can you tell me where your mobility ends exactly?

David Jeffers (16:38)

Basically, just right after my shoulders, around my nipple line is about where it stops. Even, you know, like, my arms as a quad, I don't have full function there. I don't have triceps. My hands really don't have any function, no finger function. So my main muscles of use are my shoulders at this point.

Interviewer (17:02)

Okay. I was under the assumption that you had mobility on your thumb and top fingers, but not your bottom. But I'm incorrect on that.

David Jeffers (17:10)

Yeah, that's what you call. I call it the fade grip. The technical term is teno DEIS grip. And it's basically if you flex your hand up, bend your wrist, your tendons will pull your fingers in and your thumb in. So it gives you a little bit of a grip. It's not really strong. You know, I could pick up some things, but, yeah, I can move my wrist, flex it up, but I can't forcefully bend it down, if that makes sense.

Dallas Taylor (17:39)

David spent four months in the hospital and as you could imagine, it was a dark period. He had to reevaluate his whole life and what those changes would mean for his kids, for his marriage, for his work, for everything.

Sponsor/Producer Voice (17:52)

David.

David Jeffers (17:53)

It's just a total flip of life when this happens. I felt like I lost my identity. I didn't know who I was.

Dallas Taylor (18:03)

Coming home from the hospital was just the beginning of a long recovery journey. Physical and occupational therapy, retraining the muscles that he still had access to, navigating the world in a powered wheelchair, driving a car with hand controls, and finding a new career path.

David Jeffers (18:21)

After the injury, I didn't know what I was going to do for work at all because at the test facility, I've always been hands on. So I couldn't imagine going back to work and just sitting at a desk doing that. I didn't know how I could do it physically or mentally.

Dallas Taylor (18:43)

But in those early weeks and months of his recovery, a seed was planted. With barely any ability to move on his own, he started listening more deeply.

David Jeffers (18:54)

When I was in the hospital, just being in the bed, stuck in the bed for so long, I started paying attention to sound a lot more. Where it got to the point where I could tell what nurse was about to come into my room based on the way they walked.

Dallas Taylor (19:16)

But that seed would still take a few more years to grow into anything more.

David Jeffers (19:21)

I ended up doing some engineering consultant work, like updating technical manuals for some companies and stuff like that. I did not enjoy it at all. But then, probably four years or so after my accident, once again, my friend Ricardo, you know, we're still friends, still tired as ever. He had a animation motion design company based out in la and his partner had the idea was like, your friend David, he knows how to make music. Smart guy engineering. I think he could do sound design. So they hit me up and was like, hey man, what do you think? You want to give it a shot? And that's where I kind of did the pivot from engineering to getting into sound design.

Dallas Taylor (20:09)

Early in his sound design journey, David found a mentor.

David Jeffers (20:13)

Ricardo introduced me to Joe Bissile. He's also a sound designer. He has his own sound design company called the Chicken.

Dallas Taylor (20:22)

Joe is actually someone that I know of through Defacto sound and he's really good.

David Jeffers (20:27)

And Ricardo just was like, hey, Joe, can you just talk to David? You know, just kind of answer some questions for him, you know, tell them about the industry kind of thing. When I first Started out and Joe, super nice guy, he was like, look, I will give you an hour every week to mentor, teach whatever you want to do free of charge. And basically we started doing that and until now we still do it. We've become great friends. He's taught me so much. I am forever in his debt. He's a great guy, man.

Dallas Taylor (21:10)

Gradually, David picked up different sound software. He started with a simple iPad app, then moved on to industry standard programs like Ableton and Pro Tools. He also did a lot of experimenting to find a good hardware setup which he pretty much has down now.

David Jeffers (21:26)

Basically it's almost like a splint that goes on my hand and down my forearm where there's a stylus in there so I can just use my shoulder and bicep and move around on the trackpad. And over the years I've gotten pretty good at controlling it. I've ended up getting a secondary keyboard where I program all my shortcuts and stuff like that. And that's been the game changer there.

Dallas Taylor (21:55)

Eventually David formed his own sound design company called Quadrophonic Sound. Slowly but surely, he started making contacts and landing more gigs. Over the years he's done lots of work with Ricardo's company, Bien, which is the Spanish word for good or.

David Jeffers (22:10)

Well, their whole background is inclusive motion design. Basically it means design with not for, you know, put inclusion in the process and innately it'll come out in the final.

Interviewer (22:25)

Can you help articulate why that methodology is so important with not for the role of different experiences and different lived lives and how your unique process and others unique process helps drive creative.

David Jeffers (22:46)

If you haven't lived it, you're not necessarily going to be thinking about it. There's a lot of stuff, me being an able bodied person for 33 years that I know for a fact that I never thought about once and definitely did not include in my creative process. For example, if you're creating an app for a phone, the spacing where you put dropdowns or selections, it's a big deal for somebody like me who might not have the fine motor skills to use it. It could make the difference of me using it at all or using it on a daily basis. I think everybody probably feels like they're empathetic to people with disabilities. But me actually living it, realizing how much it affects someone's day to day life. I spent so much time in rehab, I learned a lot, not only about my condition, but other conditions, just seeing how they work, how they live, how they do things differently. So it's so ingrained in me now.

Dallas Taylor (23:54)

Recently, Behan and a company called Only Today TV collaborated on a documentary about David called Quad Life. It's a raw, vulnerable window into David's world, including his morning hygiene routine, the insecurities he still struggles with, his love for his family, and his journey into sound design.

Interviewer (24:16)

I think that what struck me is just how. Gosh, just how open you are to people, seeing your real world. And I think that it just. It's so deep and rich because you are not sugarcoating it. It's something I have never seen before, and I think it grew empathy inside me. I feel close to you because you were able to open up so much.

David Jeffers (24:42)

I really appreciate that because it was tough. I mean, obviously, I didn't want to do the shower scene, but I felt that it was important that people see how intricate, how humiliating, and how hard that process is that I have to deal with every morning. And honestly, it came from being traumatized by people not being real and not being honest. You know, they say comparison is the thief of joy. I learned that in such a real way after my accident. Being on social media and seeing other quads, I would be like, oh, man, me and this guy, we have the same injury, so he's doing this this way. And, you know, life is great, and it looks all shiny and normal and fun. Why isn't my life that way? And it really. I mean, it caused me to be depressed, be hard on myself. But once I realized, like, you can't compare yourself, and half of the stuff that they're saying is not really true to life, I vowed that if somebody was listening to me, somebody wanted to hear my story, I was gonna keep it real with them and let them know what things are really like. You know, you can do that and not be a Debbie Downer, because there's still a ton of joy in my life. I love my life, but there is barriers. There are hardships. And I think to be fair to the people that are listening and going through what I'm going through, I have to be honest.

Dallas Taylor (26:28)

Today, David, Yasmin and their two sons still live in Charlotte, and David is grateful for how much time he gets with them.

David Jeffers (26:36)

Another positive change after my accident was I was able to stay home and be with my kids. Whereas, you know, if I didn't get hurt, I'd probably be still at some boring engineering job, working nine to five, rushing home and only having a couple hours with the kids when they're young before they go to bed.

Interviewer (26:57)

Even zooming out from sound like what are your favorite hobbies or what brings you joy in the creative world?

David Jeffers (27:04)

I still love producing music, actually. My son, he's become an artist now as well and he's doing some recordings. So I love watching him. I love giving him advice and him not listening, but that's a big joy. And of course, hanging out with my family, doing stuff with them. My other son, he's into basketball and I've never been into sports, so I'm totally learning something totally new. If he loves it, I'm going to love it. I'm going to support him and figure out as much as I can about whatever he's doing.

Dallas Taylor (27:43)

For David, it's been a long road of self discovery.

Interviewer (27:47)

So this happened when you were 33, which was 14 years ago. Do you feel like you're a different person? Where are you a different person and where are you the same person as

David Jeffers (27:57)

far as being the same person? My mind is fully intact. I'm still the creative, excited, fun I want to have. I want to build things. But where I'm different is unfortunately a lot of the physical things I simply cannot do or it's very difficult and time consuming to do a lot of times.

Dallas Taylor (28:22)

The accident transformed David's life and in that chaos he lost himself.

David Jeffers (28:28)

But actually getting into sound design is what I feel really brought me back. It just gave me a lot of purpose. I felt like my creative need to put something out in the world is being fed and that is like the great positive change. One thing that's always exciting is there's still a ton for me to learn. Whether it's just music or sound design, there's a ton of that I'm ready to explore and hone my skills on and just really make my place in the industry.

Dallas Taylor (29:21)

20,000 Hz is produced by my sound agency, Defacto Sound. Hear more@DefactoSound.com or by following Defacto Sound on Instagram.

Sponsor/Producer Voice (29:30)

This episode was written and produced by

Dallas Taylor (29:32)

Casey Emerling with help from Grace East.

Interviewer (29:35)

It was sound design and mixed by

Sponsor/Producer Voice (29:37)

Jade Dickey and Colin Devarney.

Dallas Taylor (29:40)

Thanks to our guest, David Jeffers, for

Sponsor/Producer Voice (29:42)

sharing his story with me.

Dallas Taylor (29:43)

For updates on Quad Life, the upcoming

Sponsor/Producer Voice (29:45)

documentary about him, visit quadlifedoc.com or follow quadlifedoc on Instagram. And to book David for your next sound design project, visit quadrophonicsound.com all of these links are in the show notes. I'm Dallas Taylor. Thanks for listening.

Dallas Taylor (30:05)

Before we go, Telling meaningful stories like the one you just heard is one of the most gratifying parts of working on this show. I believe stories like David's are what the world needs to help build empathy in the way that we listen and relate to each other. And if you agree, then I need your help. The most difficult thing about making this show is the perpetual gut churn of trying to pay for it. And there are a few easy ways that you can help us do that. Support our sponsors by using our unique URLs and promo codes. Things like shopify.com 20k are how these companies track where those signups come from, so it's crucial that you use them when signing up. And of course, they almost always come with a discount. Number two if you work for a brand that wants to get in front of the incredible people who love thoughtful stories like these, then sponsor 20,000 Hz yourself. To book with us, email our ad manager, grace@gracetyk.org and number three, which is probably the most important? Subscribe to our premium feed 20,000Hz +. To sign up, visit 20K.org/ or tap subscribe in. Apple Podcasts Once you do, you'll get our entire catalog, past, present and future, completely ad free, but you still get the mystery sound. You'll also get new episodes three days early. For just five bucks a month or fifty bucks a year, you can help us tell the ambitious stories that take time and care to get them right again. That's 20K.org/ or tap subscribe in Apple Podcasts. All of these links are in the show Notes. Thanks.