When picturing the making of an audiobook, one probably imagines a writer sitting in a recording booth, a cup of tea nearby, leisurely flipping through pages while reading into a microphone.
But for the new full-cast audiobooks of the Harry Potter series, nailing a particular scene required something more elaborate, like having an engineer swaddle celery in suede to approximate the wraithlike crackles of the soul-sucking dementors, or rub potatoes on wet gravel to mimic the creatures’ slimy hands.
These were just two of the thousands of custom effects created for the reimagined audiobooks from Audible, which feature more than 200 actors (including Keira Knightley, Matthew Macfadyen, Hugh Laurie and Kit Harington) voicing more than 500 characters, a 60-piece orchestra playing an original score and an immersive soundscape that brings the text to life. The first book, “Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone,” was released on Nov. 4; the others will follow over the next six months.
The story of Harry Potter — the boy wizard who, with his friends, defeats the dark lord Voldemort and saves the magical world — started with seven fantasy novels, ostensibly for children, published in the late 1990s and early 2000s. With more than 600 million copies sold, it is the best-selling book series of all time. This success spawned the ever-expanding Potter universe: movie adaptations, theme parks, plays, all kinds of merchandise.
And, of course, there were audiobooks: two versions, read by Stephen Fry in Britain and Jim Dale in the United States, who, as is customary with single-narrator books, did all the parts. Both continue to consistently rank among the top titles on Audible.
“The question was, how do we take this beloved series, which has been performed so well, and do something fresh and new?” said Rachel Ghiazza, the company’s chief content officer.
Full-cast audiobooks are not new. Audible has produced them for years, as have publishing houses like Penguin Random House and audiobook publishers like GraphicAudio, whose dramatized adaptations include Rebecca Yarros’s dragon-heavy romantasy, “Fourth Wing.”
But few include a cast this big (Penguin’s 166-person narration of George Saunders’s novel “Lincoln in the Bardo” is a notable exception), or sound design at this scale. The new Harry Potter series uses Dolby Atmos technology — which did not exist when the original audiobooks were recorded, beginning in 1999 — to create something akin to a Hollywood blockbuster.
“It is certainly the most ambitious project we have ever done,” said Aurelie de Troyer, Audible’s head of European content, who oversaw the project, co-produced by Pottermore Publishing. (The company declined to divulge the budget.)
Even as audio formats evolve, with many podcasts pivoting to video, Audible views immersive, full-cast storytelling as a core component of its efforts to attract younger listeners, many of whom gravitate toward more robust, fleshed-out productions. Audible is also pitching the audiobooks as a way to cut down screen time and engage the whole family.
The project arrives at a time of lingering controversy around the series, which has been renounced by some fans because of the author J.K. Rowling’s stance on the transgender community. Her frequent comments — last week, she made headlines for criticizing Glamour magazine’s decision to honor a group of trans advocates at its Women of the Year awards — have drawn condemnation from people who view the comments as transphobic, including several cast members from the films and fans who have promised to boycott any projects that benefit Rowling financially.
“We are aware that there are strong feelings and ongoing discussions surrounding her views, and it’s a complex and sensitive topic,” de Troyer said.
But, she added, “These stories center around friendship and courage, and those are the themes that we are very much looking to amplify.”
For the cast, approaching such a ubiquitous and beloved text was a humbling endeavor. Laurie, who voices the Hogwarts headmaster Albus Dumbledore, was conscious of the lineage he is joining, which includes not just Fry, his longtime collaborator, and Dale, but also Richard Harris, who played Dumbledore in the first two films; Michael Gambon, who took over the role after Harris’s death; Jude Law, who plays young Dumbledore in the “Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them” films; and, soon, John Lithgow for HBO’s television adaptation of the series, scheduled to debut in 2027.
The key, said Laurie, is to return to the text. “People’s familiarity with and affection for the character has already been shaped,” he said. “So my job is just, don’t mess it up.”
Many of the actors have their own relationships to the books. Macfadyen, who voices Voldemort, remembers hearing his young stepson, now 25, battle the villain alongside Harry in his sleep. Laurie’s children would demand the audiobooks — virtual story time with Fry, their godfather — on long car rides. Harington, who voices the pompous Gilderoy Lockhart, became obsessed with the books as a child and then, as an adult going through a stressful period, discovered the magic of the audiobooks, which he says he still listens to as he falls asleep every night.
Even many who wouldn’t call themselves a “Potter nerd,” as Harington does, had a decent knowledge of the stories. “This world exists in everybody’s minds, whether you have or have not read the books,” said Cush Jumbo, the new audiobooks’ narrator. “It’s like fairy tales: You might not know exactly which pig built each house, but you know the story.”
To build the souped-up auditory world of Harry Potter, the team mapped out floor plans for every room, marking each character’s position and blocking the scenes, just like for a film or TV production. This allowed them to bring each character into the scene, with breaths or rustling clothing, before he or she speaks. “It should feel like you’re in the world with them,” said Chris Jones, the senior director of production.
Head microphones, rather than traditional stationary ones, were used to record the actors, which enabled them to move around as they recorded, bringing a dynamism to the performances. Magical props were also available.
“I called it my comfort wand,” Macfadyen said. “I held on to it for the whole two days.”
Still, the team had to work within some strict parameters: Since there is no electricity in the wizarding world, electronic sounds could not be used. Instead, they found organic sources for every effect. For the Hogwarts Express, engineers planted 20 microphones around Britain’s largest operating steam engine; for pivotal scenes in Hogwarts’s Great Hall, they went to Leytonstone School in London, where they played film clips for the students and recorded their reactions.
“Those little key things make such a difference in how you listen to it,” said Frankie Treadaway, 14, who voices Harry in Books 1, 2 and 3 (older actors take over for Harry and his best friends, Ron and Hermione, in Books 4 through 7). “The audience has been given that extra little something to feed off in their mind, and just that little bit more information takes it to a whole different level.”
Ghiazza is quick to reassure listeners that the Fry and Dale originals aren’t going anywhere. Audible views the new series as a complementary entry point to the Potter world.
Laurie hopes to introduce his grandchildren to the audiobooks: his own and Fry’s. “I think I’ll have to do both,” he said. “And really put them on the spot and say, who do you prefer? And by the way your answer will be reflected in the terms and conditions of my will.”
Harington, though, eventually plans to go the old-fashioned route. “They’re 4 and 2, my kids, so they’re not quite there yet,” he said. “But I can’t wait to read the books to them. I’m going to really enjoy that. I won’t play them the audiobooks though. I want to read all the parts.”
Jennifer Harlan is an editor at the New York Times Book Review.
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