Harry Potter - the full-cast Audible edition

[TheNeighboursComplain]

Has anyone started this yet? The first book was just released today.

I'm only a couple of chapters in, and I really want to love it, but I'm not blown away so far. The narrator is good; I do like her voice - it's a nice and soothing voice. I really like the cast voices, but their voices are too quiet and sometimes quite tinny sounding. The sound effects can be really distracting, and too loud - it's quite hard to hear the cast voices over them. I'm hoping it improves!

Couldn’t resist getting it! Enjoying it very much so far. It is a bit like the higher budget ‘immersive’ audio productions. The sound effects are similar to those too,

I’ve just finished it today. I’m a big fan of Riz but he’s not working for me as Snape yet. Love Matthew McFadden as Voldermort though, and love McGonagall.
Madam Pomfrey is ridiculous and distracting.
Found it much easier to listen on my headphones and the mismatched sound levels.

Apparently it's designed to listen on headphones. I have no idea why that makes a difference? I also find the background noises hard to hear past. They're quite distracting.

We listened on a long family car journey and it kept us entertained though so I'm glad we bought it

I’m loving it and I can’t wait to listen to it again!

I was struck by the boy playing Ron using front /a/ vowels in words like “can’t”, although he otherwise speaks with an RP accent. Apparently the actor is trying for Ron’s “rural accent” - what it’s meant to be escapes me! If Ottery St Catchpole is supposed to be in Devon, that doesn’t sound like a Devon accent to me!

The Chamber of Secrets is out, and it's soooo much better than the first book! The sound balance is miles better - the background noises don't compete with the actors anymore, and the voices don't sound muffled/tinny either. This makes for a much nicer listening experience.

There's still an awful lot of grunting and groaning, which I can't get on board with it sounds like people pooping but otherwise, I love this one.

The actor voicing Peeves is fabulous, and he actually sings rather than chants (oh Potter you rotter) - brilliant. This gives me hope that Weasley is our King will be sang. Oh and Filch is also terrific.

Yay, thanks for the heads up. We're also enjoying it, bedtimes or car journeys.

If you like this kind of thing, the BBC did a wonderful version of The Dark is Rising a couple of years ago that is still available

Anything would be better than Stephen Fry doing women's and girls' voices in a sort of falsetto shriek -- I mean Hermione is the heroine of the series, and he makes her sound like a total ninny.

I have missed that there was a new version. I am going to give this a go, thank you.

I am enjoying them. Planning on sharing with my Potter-mad DS as one of his Christmas presents.

Reading them (listening) as an adult hits differently though. I keep being horrified by how badly the Dursleys’ treat Harry, and annoyed that none of the other adults in his life ever intervene!

I've just had the preview, slightly disappointed thay you don't get to hear any of the actors (except Vernon say 'Little Tyke' very quietly) but have bought it- hope I can hear them.

The actors are great.

I'm not sure about Dumbledoor (too young, too joyful, slightly twee) but Professor McGonagall is excellent.

And McGonagall is played by the brilliant Michelle Gomez, from Green Wing!

I like Hugh Laurie’s chirpy Dumbledore, so far, and Dumbledore in the early books was chirpy.

Hagrid also excellent, and different to Robbie Coltrane.

Agree - McGonagall and Hagrid are terrific. I think the children are very good too.

I also like what Hugh Laurie is doing with Dumbledore. It will be interesting to see how he plays it in later books though. Some of the later Dumbledore and Harry scenes are very emotional.

How's anyone getting on with book 3?

I'm still on book 2 but really enjoying it.

I'm getting used to Hugh Laurie, I realise the problem is his voice is so recognisable that I am imagining him rather than Dumbledoor when listening, but I'm getting used to it

I can't get onboard with Snape- he just isn't oily enough - I know that it was the biggest role to fill after Alan Rickman.

Shame that Fred and George are the same person - as a twin this probably bothers me more than anyone else.

I am enjoying it. Listening to them makes me pick up on little details I’d previously overlooked. Like, when Sirius Black has broken into Hogwarts and the teachers are searching the school for him, Snape tells Dumbledore that “Filch searched the dungeons.” I’m sorry, in a school full of talented witches and wizards, you made the defenceless non-magical aging caretaker check the dungeons for a (what you believe to be) mass-murderer ON HIS OWN??! Poor old Filch - no wonder he’s so grumpy.

Actually re-reading these as a parent I have a lot more sympathy for Filch getting annoyed with kids messing up the school he’s just cleaned…

Good points @MadameSzyszkoBohusz Filtch unpleasant but much put upon!

Enjoying book 3 so far. The Night Bus scene was fun.

Still peturbed by the plot that a teacher as responsible and sensible as McGonegall would give Hermione a time turner to cram in more lessons.

Similar to in the PS when quirrel announces there's a troll in the dungeons so dumbledore sends all the pupils back to their houses for safety -including the slytherins who live....in the dungeons!

Also given 1/4 of the entire student population live there plus at at least one classroom, set of toilets, a big enough open space to host NHN'S birthday party with a full headless hunt (albeit ghostly) cantering around and goodness knows what else, the dungeons must be massive! Poor filch indeed!

I have just started listening to book 3.

Actor voicing Draco fantastic as is the narrator.

Snape disappointing-and not just because he is not Alan Rickman-he doesn't sound menacing at all-even when the narration says he is being menacing he just sounds fine.

I am also not getting on with Prof Trelawney-again just reading it pretty straight. Not wispy at all.
And Madame Pompfrey being voiced by a male voice a bit jarring-especially when they say "she said" and then it is a mans voice.

Thought all of the Golden Trio very good and although Draco feels stand out child performer to me I think all of the other children in the cast-Neville, Oliver Wood, Pansy etc etc are very good-no weak links here at all.
Filch great!

They have gotten the sound effects balance better although I am listening with headphones and sometimes one ear gets something-background noise- the other one doesn't so I assume that's why they want you to listen with headphones?

Overall I am enjoying.
I also thought some of the text was different from the book so I actually pulled out the book and it 100% matches.
I think seeing the films messes with our heads about what is book and what is film reality.

I noticed the child actors change in the later books which I think is the right call.
I will def re-listen to the whole series this way.

I've just finished the 3rd book and feel it's now getting into its stride, but then I feel that about the actual books too.

Enjoying them when I can listen to them as they stand on their own, less so when I start to compare to the original recordings.

One bugbear is everyone seems to say Serious instead of Sirius... is that how it's supposed to be pronounced I wonder?

Now I've noticed I can't unhear it 😬.

Unsure about Dumbledore as Hugh Laurie to me always sounds like his Blackadder characters.

Some lovely voices though... enjoyed Kit Harrington's Lockhart and liking Hagrid too.

I can’t get behind Snape, who sounds like a bit of a wuss and Trelawny who just sounds ridiculous, but on the whole I’m really enjoying them! As a PP
mentioned I’m hearing things I’d missed in the previous audio books.

I'm so glad you pointed out about madam pomfrey!!! I was so confused when I was listening last night (insomnia!)

I think Snape is a weak link too, sounds a bit smarmy rather than bullying. Maybe it's the snivellus side 🥴

I think Sirius does sound like serious- in my accent they can definitely be quite similar.

I think the kids are excellent.

Voldemort seems to have lost the T as well.

Madame Pomfrey a man? It says it is voiced by Rebecca Root

Their Wikipedia says ‘assigned male at birth’. So yes they are a man.