Harry Potter and the Sound Designer’s Stone

Summary

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Episode Overview

Podcast: Twenty Thousand Hertz
Episode: Harry Potter and the Sound Designer’s Stone
Host: Dallas Taylor
Release Date: March 9, 2026

This episode explores the intricate process of sound designing Audible’s new, cinematic Harry Potter audiobooks. Host Dallas Taylor sits down with Will Cohen and Lawrence Kendrick of String and Tins, the audio team responsible for the immersive, meticulously detailed soundscapes that transform J.K. Rowling’s Wizarding World into a vibrant auditory experience. The episode delves into the creative choices, sonic challenges, and magical moments that shaped these beloved stories for listeners in a brand-new way.

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Key Discussion Points and Insights

Imagining Harry Potter Through Sound

• Dallas Taylor discusses reading the Harry Potter books aloud with his daughter and the transition from traditional readings to the new multi-voice, sound-designed audiobook editions ([00:00]–[03:05]).
• Notable Moment: Doris, Dallas’s daughter, prefers the “movie-ish” audiobooks because of the varied voices and immersive sound effects.
• Quote:

  "These audiobooks sound awesome... They're basically full on movies for your ears."
  — Dallas Taylor ([03:05])

The Enormous Undertaking Behind the Sound Design

• The new audiobooks span all seven Harry Potter books — about 130 hours, with constant, canon-accurate sound effects ([04:07]).

• Every location, ambient detail, and object sound was scrutinized for accuracy and consistency with the books.

• Quote:

  "You can't have a clock mentioned in book six and not have it in book one. So everything is totally canon to the books."
  — Lawrence Kendrick ([04:22])

• The sheer scope was daunting, especially given the passionate and detail-focused fanbase.

• Comparing the project to previous versions (e.g., the classic Stephen Fry narration) created extra pressure ([05:00]–[05:53]).

Challenges Unique to Audiobook Sound Design

• Pacing and Timing: Unlike film, audiobook narration is drawn out. Designers had to anticipate narration and “lead the narration” with sound ([06:26]–[07:16]).

  • Quote:

    “If you're told the thing before you hear it, then it's breaking the spell.”
    — Will Cohen ([07:16])

• Example: The sound of frying eggs starts before the narration mentions it ([07:31]). This approach weaves sound into the narrative without becoming formulaic or distracting.

Maintaining Organic, Believable Magic

• Audible and Pottermore mandated that even magical sounds must feel organic, realistic, and grounded ([08:09]–[08:48]).

• Quote:

  “If a wizard casts a spell, it's not sparkles and tinkly-ness. The physicality of what is happening in front of you is what drives the sound design.”
  — Lawrence Kendrick ([08:32])

• Example: Hagrid opening a brick wall called for a custom “jiggling brick” sound, recorded by hand ([09:25]–[10:05]).

Differentiating the Muggle and Wizarding Worlds

• The designers deliberately created a “beige,” colorless soundscape for the Muggle world, transitioning to a vivid cacophony in Diagon Alley (inspired by The Wizard of Oz) ([10:11]–[11:43]).
• Crowds and Walla recordings were sourced authentically — e.g., capturing an “old world” street vibe in Stratford-upon-Avon ([12:08]–[12:53]).

Iconic Locations and Vehicles

• Recording for the Hogwarts Express involved a real 1940s steam train, capturing every possible angle and sound texture ([13:08]–[14:28]).

  • Memorable Moment:

    “It was probably the loudest thing I’ve ever recorded.”
    — Will Cohen ([13:08])

• Hogwarts’ Great Hall ambience was created by recording real children in an old school building, capturing spontaneous, genuine reactions ([15:25]–[16:42]).

Sound Motifs for Places and Objects

• Every door in Hogwarts, Gringotts, and elsewhere has a unique, emotionally resonant sound based on location, magical affiliation, and narrative context ([21:49]–[23:01]).
• Subtle motifs: A lion’s roar in Gryffindor’s door, snake hisses in Slytherin’s, clinking coins in Gringotts ([22:12]–[23:01]).

Designing Spells and Magical Creatures

• Spells were sorted into “positive” and “negative” sonic families, balancing musical shimmer with animalistic or sinister textures ([23:18]–[25:38]).

  • Creative Process: Lawrence tried 40 different spellcasting flavors but simplified for clarity and less distraction.

• Notable Quote:

  "I thought, it's kind of the closest I can as a Muggle come to casting a spell in my mind — like that strike and the flaring of it."
  — Lawrence Kendrick, on inspiration for spell sounds ([25:01])

• Creatures:

  • The Dementors’ chilling sound comes from “inhale screams” and gargling egg whites for texture ([27:28]–[29:18]).
    • Memorable Moment: Live demonstration and laughter as Will and Lawrence try inhale screams on mic ([28:06]–[28:30])
    • Quote:

      "Phil gargled egg whites... it has that sort of sticky textural thing and clings to your throat."
      — Lawrence Kendrick ([28:42])

  • Aragog’s mandible clicks were performed, sampled, and modulated in real time ([30:04]–[31:54]).

Fandom and Lasting Legacy

• Both Will and Lawrence are fans, with Lawrence describing childhood enthusiasm and Harry Potter quizzes ([32:01]).
• The team’s excitement (and nervousness) regarding how fans would receive their work; the overwhelmingly positive response was fiercely gratifying ([32:30]–[32:54]).
• Quote:

  "There are very few mediums like this... I’ll still be proud of this when I’m an old man."
  — Lawrence Kendrick ([33:15])

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Notable Quotes and Moments

• Dallas Taylor:

  "These audiobooks sound awesome... They're basically full on movies for your ears." ([03:05])

• Lawrence Kendrick:

  "You can't have a clock mentioned in book six and not have it in book one. So everything is totally canon to the books." ([04:22])

• Will Cohen:

  "If you're told the thing before you hear it, then it's breaking the spell." ([07:16])

• Lawrence Kendrick (on spell sounds):

  "I thought, it's kind of the closest I can as a Muggle come to casting a spell in my mind — like that strike and the flaring of it." ([25:01])

• Will Cohen (on Hogwarts Express):

  "It was probably the loudest thing I've ever recorded." ([13:08])

• Lawrence Kendrick (on legacy):

  "There are very few mediums like this... I’ll still be proud of this when I’m an old man." ([33:15])

• Team Acknowledgement:

  "It was a really awesome team... Pete Doggett, Phil Lee, Kevin Langhammer and Damian Pace with our most excellent tech, George Hinson."
  — Will Cohen ([34:02])

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Timestamps for Important Segments

| Time | Segment | |-----------|--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 00:00–03:05 | Dallas's intro, discussing experience reading to his daughter and audiobook transition | | 03:05–04:07 | What makes these audiobooks different (full cast, Dolby Atmos, sound design) | | 04:07–05:13 | Scope and canon-accuracy: 130 hours, every detail covered | | 06:26–07:16 | Sound design for audiobooks vs. film – "lead the narration" principle | | 08:09–08:48 | The importance of organic sound for magic | | 09:25–10:05 | Recording bricks for Hagrid’s wall-opening scene | | 10:11–11:43 | Soundscape contrast: Muggle vs. Wizarding world, Diagon Alley | | 13:08–14:28 | Recording Hogwarts Express, ambient details, and unique microphone techniques | | 15:25–16:42 | Capturing Hogwarts’ Great Hall with real children | | 21:49–23:18 | Every door’s unique sound and emotional layering | | 23:18–25:38 | Spell sound design: positive vs. negative vibe, inspiration and process | | 27:28–29:18 | Creating dementors’ chilling sound using inhale screams and egg whites | | 30:04–31:54 | Aragog’s clicks performed live, integrating with narration | | 32:30–33:15 | Launch, reviews, and the emotional legacy of the project | | 34:02 | Acknowledgment of the whole String and Tins audio team |

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Conclusion

This episode of Twenty Thousand Hertz pulls back the curtain on the monumental, heartfelt work required to transform the Harry Potter novels into an audio experience that honors both the letter and the spirit of the originals. Through creative problem-solving, field recordings, and technical ingenuity, the String and Tins team created “movies for your ears” that are already resonating with a new generation of fans and old. For anyone curious about the magic of sound design, this episode is itself a masterclass.

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Transcript

[Dallas Taylor]

I love learning the backstories behind my favorite albums. When I know what's going on in the artist's life at the time and what they were going for creatively, it makes me appreciate the music that much more. And that's what the youe'll Hear it podcast is all about. Each episode breaks down an iconic album from the expansive world of jazz and everything jazz touches from Steely Dan to Prince to Radiohead to Lauryn Hill. Whether you play an instrument or just love music, you'll never hear these albums the same way again. You'll hear it as music explored. Follow the show on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or subscribe on YouTube. You're listening to 20,000 Hz. The stories behind the world's most iconic and fascinating sounds. I'm Dallas Taylor. Then there was a great scraping of chairs and next moment, Harry found himself shaking hands with everyone in the Leakey Cauldron. I have three daughters and I've been reading to all of them since they were born. Lately I've been reading the first Harry Potter book to my nine year old, Doris Crockford. Mr. Potter, can't believe I'm meeting you at last. So proud, Mr. Potter. I'm just so proud. Always wanted to shake your hand. I'm all of a. And how do you feel when I read it to you? Like how do you process it in your brain?

[Doris Crockford]

Since it's kind of like a mystery book, I try to stick all the pieces together, as in clues and stuff, and try to figure out what happens or what's just about to happen next.

[Dallas Taylor]

Do you see pictures and stuff in your mind?

[Doris Crockford]

Actually yes, I think. Well, sometimes. Not that many though. Just like a few.

[Dallas Taylor]

I consume audiobooks all the time and recently I came across some new audio editions of the Harry Potter books on audible. So I queued up book one for my daughter. I'm going to start with chapter five where you keep falling asleep and I want you to tell me what you think about it. Like give it a review.

[Narrator (Kush Jumbo)]

Then there was a great scraping of chairs and next moment, Harry found himself shaking hands with everyone in the leaky cauldron. Oh, Doris Crockford.

[Dallas Taylor]

Mr. Potter.

[Doris Crockford]

Can't believe we're meeting you at last.

[Will Cohen]

So proud, Mr. Potter.

[Dallas Taylor]

I'm just so proud.

[Will Cohen]

Always wanted to shake your hand. I'm all of a flutter.

[Dallas Taylor]

So do you want to hear this kind of movie esque version or dad,

[Doris Crockford]

uh, movie ish version.

[Dallas Taylor]

Sorry, I have been reading to you for nine and three, four years.

[Doris Crockford]

Hey, this has different voices and like sound Effects. I guess you could add sound effects with these actually real sound effects.

[Dallas Taylor]

Sorry. It could be like Hagrid's coat fell on the floor.

[Doris Crockford]

You can still like sit over there while we read, while we listen to it.

[Dallas Taylor]

My daughter's reaction stung a bit and it's tough thinking that my time reading aloud to her might be coming to an end. But I can't say I'm too surprised. I mean, she is my kid. And these audiobooks sound awesome. They were produced by Audible and Pottermore Publishing. And unlike a traditional audiobook with just a single voice, these additions include a full cast of voice actors, original score music and enveloping sound design mixed in Dolby Atmos. They're basically full on movies for your ears.

[Will Cohen]

It's perhaps one of the first audio experiences which is of this scale that has applied that much detail to the sound design and immersion.

[Dallas Taylor]

That's Will Cohen.

[Lawrence Kendrick]

Such a new medium, this full high production value world. People are still learning how to consume it.

[Dallas Taylor]

And that's Lawrence Kendrick. Will and Lawrence both work at String and Tens, the company that sound designed these new audiobooks for them and their team. It was a massive undertaking.

[Will Cohen]

It's around about 130 hours of content for all seven books. And there isn't a moment in the sound where we haven't cut, for instance, the background. So it's like constant effects the whole time.

[Lawrence Kendrick]

Scope wise, everything is covered, every movement, every location. The outside of those locations. If we're in Hagrid's Hut, I know where that is situated in the grounds. How close it is to the Black Lake, how close it is to the Forbidden Forest, how much of those elements should bleed in through the windows, what time of day it is, what time of year it is. Every classroom, every bit of text was scrubbed through to see what details are in the classroom. You can't have a clock mentioned in book six and not have it in book one. So everything is totally canon to the books.

[Dallas Taylor]

At first, the sheer scope of the project was pretty daunting.

[Will Cohen]

We are used to working on shorter work and we have an expectation within ourselves to make it sound as great as we can. And to do that on such a scale has been really terrifying, actually.

[Dallas Taylor]

They were also intimidated thinking about the millions of people who are obsessed with

[Lawrence Kendrick]

this series and they know every inch of it inside out. Yeah. Yes, I definitely was.

[Will Cohen]

It was a bit scary at the beginning. I listened to the Steam Fry version with my kids quite a lot.

[Lawrence Kendrick]

Harry Potter was a highly unusual boy in many ways. For one thing, he hated the Summer holidays more than any other time of year.

[Will Cohen]

You know, Stephen Fry, he's a part of British heritage. So to sort of be doing something quite different felt like a bit of a wrench, you know. But as soon as we heard the first passes of dialogue coming in and the narrator.

[Dallas Taylor]

These new versions are narrated by actress Kush Jumbo.

[Narrator (Kush Jumbo)]

Harry Potter was a highly unusual boy in many ways. For one thing, he hated the summer holidays more than any other time of year.

[Will Cohen]

When Kush Jumbo's first takes came in, I was like, oh, wow, this is a really good switch up. You know, she's got such a wonderful voice and her performances are amazing. So once we got into it, the kind of overwhelming nature of it passed.

[Dallas Taylor]

Compared to sound designing for a film or a TV show, the biggest difference for an audiobook like this has to do with pacing.

[Lawrence Kendrick]

One of the challenges of an audiobook is these moments can be very drawn out. So you're trying to make something that feels very naturalistic and like it's happening in front of you. But a moment could be described over a page.

[Will Cohen]

Like, you know, if someone says, I'm casting a freeze spell, and then the narrator starts to talk about their emotional state, you know, you've already cast the freeze spell, but then five or ten seconds later, the thing happens. And so somehow we have to work out how the pace of that works.

[Dallas Taylor]

To deal with issues like this, they developed a rule of thumb.

[Will Cohen]

You need to lead the narration, meaning

[Dallas Taylor]

the sound of something should begin before the narrator mentions it.

[Lawrence Kendrick]

I think it just feels more natural. Something that I and the team were very keen was to ensure that it didn't feel too formulaic. So like a radio play. This isn't a radio play. He opened the door. Pat, Pat, Pat, Pat, Pat.

[Will Cohen]

Yeah, exactly. If you're told the thing before you hear it, then it's breaking the spell.

[Dallas Taylor]

But hearing the sound a beat before you're told what it is helps immerse you in the story. Here's a quick example. Notice how you hear the eggs start frying before the narrator mentions it.

[Narrator (Kush Jumbo)]

His hair simply grew that way all over the place. Harry was frying eggs by the time Dudley arrived in the kitchen with his mother.

[Lawrence Kendrick]

It becomes this woven experience where it's unfolding in the background. But the narrator and. And the performances are always right at the front.

[Narrator (Kush Jumbo)]

Something came whizzing down the kitchen chimney as he spoke and caught him sharply on the back of the head. Next moment, 30 or 40 letters came pelting out of the fireplace like bullets. The dursleys ducked, but Harry leapt into the air trying to catch one.

[Dallas Taylor]

While Harry Potter is filled with magic spells and fantastic creatures, Audible and Pottermore made it very clear that they wanted these sounds to organic and believable.

[Will Cohen]

They were quite strict on how organic it would be like if it steered too far into anything synthetic or something that didn't feel attached to what the script says.

[Lawrence Kendrick]

Broadly speaking, the rule was that it needs to feel like it's really happening in front of you. So if a wizard casts a spell, it's not sparkles and tinkly ness. The physicality of what is happening in front of you is what drives the sound design.

[Dallas Taylor]

Here's an example from book one. When Hagrid makes a passageway magically appear in a brick wall.

[Lawrence Kendrick]

Right. Stand back, Harry.

[Narrator (Kush Jumbo)]

He tapped the wall three times with the point of his umbrella. The brick he had touched quivered. It wriggled in the middle. A small hole appeared. It grew wider and wider. A second later, they were facing an archway large enough even for Hagrid.

[Dallas Taylor]

But finding a jiggling brick sound that would last for that entire moment was harder than expected.

[Will Cohen]

There's quite long periods of narrative and I'm like, oh, my God, I don't have this sound in my library that's even long enough.

[Dallas Taylor]

So Will had to do it himself.

[Will Cohen]

I was in the middle of a renovation project at home, so I fortunately had some piles of bricks and offcuts of stuff in my back garden. So I just went out there and recorded a load of jiggling of bits and bobs. So you can hear that I had to jiggle for a really long time because the narrator's chatting away. So, yeah, there was a lot of jiggling

[Dallas Taylor]

in the book. Harry steps through the hole into Diagon Alley, which is a bustling marketplace for wizards.

[Lawrence Kendrick]

This is the first time that we move from the Muggle world through to the Wizarding world. So there was a lot of discussion up front about. The wizard of Oz was a nice example of black and white initially, and then transitioning into color.

[Doris Crockford]

Toto, I have a feeling we're not

[Lawrence Kendrick]

in Kansas anymore, and we wanted to make the Muggle world kind of colorless in a way. There's this difficult line to tread where you want things to be detailed, engaging and interesting, but also have this feeling of something missing or something a little beige.

[Will Cohen]

On a very basic level, we go from the Muggle world of, you know, you're lucky if you hear a milk float.

[Dallas Taylor]

For listeners outside the uk, milk floats were electric milk delivery trucks. That were common for decades

[Will Cohen]

to Diagon Alley that's full of potions being boiled just on the side of the road.

[Narrator (Kush Jumbo)]

The sun shone brightly on a stack of cauldrons outside the nearest shop, and

[Will Cohen]

owls squawking and squabbling in cages.

[Narrator (Kush Jumbo)]

A low, soft hooting came from a dark shop with a sign saying I Lops Owl Emporium.

[Will Cohen]

All these people babbling away.

[Narrator (Kush Jumbo)]

He turned his head in every direction as they walked up the street, trying to look at everything at once. The shops, the things outside them, the people doing their shopping.

[Will Cohen]

Suddenly there's a huge palette of potential that we can ply sound onto, and this is the opening of that gateway.

[Narrator (Kush Jumbo)]

Windows stacked with barrels of bat spleens and eels, Eyes tottering piles of spell books, quills and rolls of parchment, potion bottles, globes of the moon.

[Dallas Taylor]

A scene like this has tons of sonic layers in it. Some came from sound libraries, while others had to be found out in the world. So the team carried microphones around with them just in case they stumbled across the perfect sound.

[Lawrence Kendrick]

Most of us at Stringentons keep mics in our backpacks anyway, but definitely I was pulling out and grabbing things whenever opportunity rose. That reminded me of a moment from the books.

[Dallas Taylor]

For instance, crowd sounds, also known as Walla, are pretty easy to find in sound libraries, but for Diagon Alley, they specifically wanted voices of an old fashioned stone street. Then one day Lawrence and his family visited Stratford upon Avon. It's a medieval market town which is famous for being the birthplace of Shakespeare.

[Lawrence Kendrick]

So I was in Stratford, up in Avon, walking down a cobbled street and then ditched my wife and child to go and record this proper authentic oldie worldy street with all of these excited people from all over the place.

[Dallas Taylor]

For Will and Lawrence, one of their most exciting days of recording came when they captured sounds for the Hogwarts Express, the train that takes students to the Wizarding School of Hogwarts. For that, they recorded a real steam train that was built in the late 40s.

[Will Cohen]

It was like this little private railway called the Spa Valley Railway. And we got to go and record there for the day and took a team out and recorded every bit of this amazing steam train that we could, including a whistle. We're setting up audio in this amazing old early 1900s steam train warehouse just full of bits of steam trains. Everyone hit record and then they kicked off this thing and it was probably the loudest thing I've ever recorded.

[Lawrence Kendrick]

And yeah, just gushing steam.

[Dallas Taylor]

Then they recorded the train running down the track from every possible angle and

[Lawrence Kendrick]

distance, because there's so many points when you're cutting perspective. Sometimes we're following the train from the flying car, from above it. Sometimes we're within a carriage. We recorded the ambience of every carriage.

[Will Cohen]

Yeah, we stuck some clip mics underneath the train so that we could pick up the clacks and mix that into any background we wanted. And then we had someone down the track, our colleague George, took this microphone out into a field and recorded some distant toots.

[Dallas Taylor]

Once they had all of that material recorded, they could be woven together into scenes like this.

[Will Cohen]

Only joking, Mom.

[Narrator (Kush Jumbo)]

The train began to move.

[Will Cohen]

Move.

[Narrator (Kush Jumbo)]

Harry saw the boy's mother waving in their sister, half laughing, half crying, running to keep up with the train until it gathered too much speed. Then she fell back and waved. Harry watched the girl and her mother disappear as the train rounded the corner, houses flashed past the window. Harry felt a great leap of excitement. He didn't know what he was going to, but it had to be better than what he was leaving behind.

[Dallas Taylor]

At Hogwarts, one of the most important settings is the Great hall, where the students eat and socialize to create that environment. They recorded at a real school.

[Lawrence Kendrick]

They had an amazing big hall. And we managed to borrow a load of eager kids for a whole day and captured them in their natural habitat, you know, being kids. And it was just so authentic. The best moments were those when we weren't directing them, when they just left a mic running.

[Doris Crockford]

Oh, my God, it's gonna be my glasses.

[Lawrence Kendrick]

So we're capturing all of these kids being their true selves in schools and then getting all of these songs or moments, reactions.

[Dallas Taylor]

Here's that same moment in the book.

[Narrator (Kush Jumbo)]

Someone standing outside the Great hall might well have thought some sort of explosion had taken place. So loud was the noise that erupted from the brick and door table. Harry, Ron and Hermione stood up to yell and cheer as Neville White, with shock, disappeared under a pile of people hugging him.

[Dallas Taylor]

At one point in the books, the Slytherin kids make up a song called Weasley Is Our King to make fun of Ron Weasley. And that was one of the songs they taught the kids.

[Lawrence Kendrick]

Yeah, so they're all being themselves did an amazing job. The kids that are sort of struggling to keep focus, that just adds authenticity.

[Will Cohen]

We.

[Doris Crockford]

Tears are in, weasels are in.

[Lawrence Kendrick]

That one kid who sings it an octave higher than everyone else is just hilarious and just so true.

[Dallas Taylor]

Many of these scenes in the books were built around grounded sounds like these. But of course, there were also lots of magical elements that came with their own sonic challenges, from mythical creatures to spells and curses of every kind. That's coming up after the break. This episode is sponsored by Sonos. As someone who works in sound, I think a lot about the atmosphere that sound create. Not just what I'm hearing, but how it moves and fills the space I'm in and at home. I like being able to shape that atmosphere exactly how I want it. Which is why I love Sonos. With Sonos, every speaker or soundbar gets folded into a customizable, interconnected system. That way, I can treat the music in my house almost like a mixing session. I can send some light music into the kitchen while I'm cooking. I can send another track to a portable speaker outside where my kids are playing, or let the same song blast through every room of the house so we can all jam out together. It's effortless, wireless and seamless. Plus, it works just as well for movies, TV shows, sports and video games. Everything we watch or play on our Sonos Surround system is immersive and cinematic. If you want incredible studio quality sound in every room, visit sonos.com that's s o n o s.com Congratulations to Mara Smith for getting last episode's mystery sound right. That's the signature barking sound of an Airbus plane before takeoff. The sound comes from the power transfer unit, also known as the ptu. Basically, it helps balance the pressure between two hydraulic systems when only one engine is running. As it quickly switches on and off to even things out, it makes that noise. And here's this episode's mystery sound. If you know that sound, submit your guess at the web address mystery.2000.org. Anyone who guesses it right will be entered to win a super soft 20,000Hz T shirt. To some people, jazz can feel intimidating. There's more than a century of history to it and so many subgenres. Where do you even start? Well, why not start with a classic? On the youe'll Hear it podcast, jazz musicians Peter Martin and Adam Manis break down one iconic album per episode, and they recently did one about the first masterpiece by Miles Davis, Birth of the Cool. In it, they Explore how a 21 year old miles teamed up with an arranger and a nine piece group to craft an album full of singable melodies, tight horns and a new restrained sound. It's the perfect introduction to the legend that is Miles Davis. But you'll hear it isn't just about the classics. It's about how jazz is fundamental to so many genres, from R and B to funk to hip hop and more. And to top it off, Peter and Adam start and end every episode by performing a song from the album they're gonna talk about with their four piece group. You'll hear it as music explored. Follow the show on Apple podcasts, Spotify or subscribe on YouTube. When you run a small business like I do, you end up wearing a lot of different hats, which is why it's always such a relief when certain tasks get taken off your plate. And that's exactly what Gusto does for me. 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. With Gusto, I know that my employees at Defacto Sound are taken care of when it comes to payroll tracking, pto, automatic tax filing and more. That way I can stay focused on making my business the best that it can be. Gusto even has certified HR experts, so if a complicated situation ever comes up, I know I can lean on them to help figure things out. We get all of this and more for one monthly price, meaning no hidden fees and no surprises. Try gusto [e-mail] 20k and get three months free when you run your first payroll. That's three months of free [e-mail] 20K. Once again, that's gusto.com 20K. While sound designing the new Harry Potter audiobooks, the team at String Tens were obsessive in their attention to detail. For example, they gave every door in the story its own unique sound.

[Lawrence Kendrick]

There's the authenticity about what these places sound like and what the acoustics of that space sound like, making them all unique and iconic so that you recognise it. And then also even thinking emotionally about what each location evokes.

[Dallas Taylor]

For instance, each house in Hogwarts is represented by an animal. For the brave Gryffindor house, it's a lion.

[Lawrence Kendrick]

So there's elements of roaring baked into the Gryffindor common room door.

[Dallas Taylor]

For the cunning Slytherin house, it's a snake.

[Lawrence Kendrick]

There's a hissing snake texture with the Slytherin common room door.

[Dallas Taylor]

Here's the door to Harry's vault in Gringott's bank, which is filled with gold.

[Will Cohen]

That's a rare example of some sparkles there.

[Lawrence Kendrick]

I think there's. There's cache right Shifting around there.

[Will Cohen]

Oh, yeah, sorry. No, you're right. That's the shifting cache. It's not a broken rule.

[Dallas Taylor]

Then there's the door to Vault 713, a high security vault used by Dumbledore.

[Lawrence Kendrick]

Yeah, a little more mysterious because it's a more mysterious vault. This level of detail and consideration's been given to literally every single door. It doesn't draw your attention to it, but it does something to you emotionally.

[Dallas Taylor]

I think one set of sounds that involved lots of this emotional layering was the spells.

[Lawrence Kendrick]

They're such a critical part of the wizarding world, of course, so a lot of care was taken into their approach of them. Also within the book, like we were saying earlier, there's this multiple beat approach to the way that books unfold in front of you. So there's a casting sound where the spell is moun manifested. Sometimes there might be a traveling element to that spell and then there's the action of it. So if it unlocks a door, then it's the sound of a door actually unlocking. It respects the size of that lock. It might be a big clunky sliding gate or it might be a little intricate box or something.

[Doris Crockford]

Hello, Hamora.

[Narrator (Kush Jumbo)]

The lock clicked and the door swung open.

[Dallas Taylor]

Lawrence and Will wanted there to be some kind of sonic relationship between the various spells.

[Lawrence Kendrick]

I initially had this idea of making different spellcastings for jinxes, curses, counter curses, and giving them all an individual flavor. I must have done 40 different options for spell castings, but it was just turning into quite a complex. It was becoming distracting, basically.

[Dallas Taylor]

So they ended up dividing the spells into just two, positive and negative, basically,

[Lawrence Kendrick]

whether it has a positive or negative intent. So I'll give you a little blast of the positive spells on their own.

[Dallas Taylor]

As you can hear, these positive spells all have a kind of electric shimmer to them and they're even a bit musical.

[Lawrence Kendrick]

I also had this idea of striking a match. I thought it's kind of the closest that I can as a Muggle come to casting a spell in my mind like that strike and the flaring of it. So I definitely, in terms of the rhythm of it, that was always in the back of my mind.

[Narrator (Kush Jumbo)]

Lumos, Harry muttered, and a light appeared at the end of his wand, almost dazzling him.

[Dallas Taylor]

By contrast, the negative spells have an animalistic snarl to them, along with a sinister, breathy layer.

[Lawrence Kendrick]

There's definitely animal layers in there.

[Will Cohen]

Feels a bit vocal as well, doesn't it?

[Lawrence Kendrick]

Yeah, I'm a big fan of sitting in front of a mic and making noises and then wibbling them about. Especially because we're making something organic based in the real world. Vocal things are real and alive. So that felt relevant and cool for this one.

[Dallas Taylor]

One of the most famous spells in Harry Potter is the Patronus Charm, which conjures a magical guardian creature that's unique to each person. Harry's Patronus is a stag, and for the scene where he first conjures it, Lawrence crafted a whole ethereal sound.

[Lawrence Kendrick]

It's literally an abstracted stag call. There are choral layers. We've got a layer called throbby swirls. A trick we like to do quite often is drawing sounds out with granular tools and then using the textural elements that come out of it to make the something that feels wide and all encompassing. This is a particularly musical element. Generally, we've always stood well clear away from music, this, a dedicated scoring team, but this one needed it. There's an element of, I want to say sadness, but it's melancholy or something. It definitely makes me feel something.

[Dallas Taylor]

In the book, Harry conjures his Patronus to fight against the Dementors, which are evil hooded creatures, sort of like the Ringwraiths in Lord of the Rings.

[Lawrence Kendrick]

They've got to be terrifying because everyone that is within the vicinity of them has all the happiness drained out of you, and so you want to try and get that feeling with the listener as well.

[Dallas Taylor]

To create the sound for the Dementors,

[Lawrence Kendrick]

I had a very clear brief, an idea initially where I watched this YouTube video about inhale screams, which is like a metal singing technique where you literally inhale as you scream.

[Dallas Taylor]

I will not follow you into a bloody yard.

[Lawrence Kendrick]

It felt thematically right because the dementors are inhaling your soul and it just sounds rad and it sounds very dangerous.

[Will Cohen]

Can you do one?

[Lawrence Kendrick]

Oh, I definitely need to try to. It makes me cough quite a lot,

[Will Cohen]

but can I try one?

[Lawrence Kendrick]

Oh, yeah, go for it.

[Will Cohen]

Oh, that's good. Oh, God, yeah. That's a real throat tickler.

[Lawrence Kendrick]

So that was, yeah, an initial idea, which I love having something to go on to start, rather than staring at a blank page and just throwing things at it.

[Dallas Taylor]

But then their colleague Phil Lee took things a step further.

[Lawrence Kendrick]

Phil gargled egg whites because it has that sort of sticky textural thing and clings to your throat and sounds particularly bubbly and gloopy. So he took one for the team and did some glubblubbling with egg whites in his mouth.

[Dallas Taylor]

Add some modulation and pitch shifting and you end. Here's a dementor in the audiobook.

[Narrator (Kush Jumbo)]

The hand was suddenly withdrawn into the folds of the black material and then the thing beneath the hood, whatever it was, drew a long, slow, rattling breath as Though it was trying to suck something more than air from its surroundings.

[Dallas Taylor]

Now, the dementors don't talk, but there are plenty of other creatures that do. And for those moments, they'd often use the actor's performance to trigger other sounds. That way, these extra layers would dynamically shift with the actor's pitch or volume

[Lawrence Kendrick]

so that it feels tied together, like it's a singular item.

[Dallas Taylor]

In book two, for example, Harry encounters a giant talking spider named Aragog. Notice the clicking sounds underneath Aragog's voice.

[Lawrence Kendrick]

I was cheaping.

[Doris Crockford]

We're friends of Hagrid's.

[Narrator (Kush Jumbo)]

His heart seemed to have left his chest to pound in his throat. Click, click, click went the pincers of the spiders all around the hollow. Aragog paused.

[Lawrence Kendrick]

Hagrid has never sent men into our hollow before. There's lots of elements to the clicking, but the main one that I wanted to play along with, I just wanted control over it. So I think it's just me going and then putting that into a sampler through a bunch of effects, using an emitter to trigger that, kind of like on a peggiator, but with some random elements to it.

[Dallas Taylor]

In other words, he made those clicks into a digital instrument.

[Lawrence Kendrick]

And then I could just play that along with the voice. So obviously it sounds a little pitch, so you'd find something tastier down lower. And then as Aragog was performing, then I could dial that in and perform so that the more angry he gets, the more I'm able to bring them up.

[Dallas Taylor]

Along with these mouth clicks, they layered in leathery sounds and shifting hair sounds

[Lawrence Kendrick]

and having them all dynamically move along

[Narrator (Kush Jumbo)]

with performance in trouble, said the aged spider.

[Lawrence Kendrick]

But why has he said you so, yeah, a lot of our creatures are tied to keys on the keyboard or even just a knob to Twizzle. Being able to perform along with the story just lets you dial into those little nuanced storytelling moments.

[Dallas Taylor]

Both Will and Lawrence have been Harry Potter fans for decades. For Lawrence, he grew up with the books.

[Lawrence Kendrick]

I stayed up late reading all the books. I got them as they came out. I won Harry Potter quizzes and stuff back in the day. Yeah, huge fan.

[Dallas Taylor]

Whereas Will was more familiar with the movies.

[Will Cohen]

I've watched the films, and I love the films. And so recreating something that has been part of our upbringing is kind of cool.

[Dallas Taylor]

After 18 months of intense work, they completed the sound for all 130, 30 hours of material. Then they waited to see how people would respond.

[Lawrence Kendrick]

We love it so much and we've been so excited about it, but you don't know what anyone else is going to say, right? It's very close to people's hearts. But the first review started coming out and they were calling out specific moments that you remember putting in there and the reception was so positive and I was so very proud and very pleased.

[Will Cohen]

Yeah, they really were flagging how cool the sound design was, which is immensely gratifying, for sure.

[Dallas Taylor]

For them, this was the rare project that even people outside the sound world could understand and appreciate.

[Lawrence Kendrick]

It's not very often that all my friends are listening to this stuff and you know, my friends are proud of me for what I'm making because they all grew up with it as well.

[Dallas Taylor]

And unlike the endless stream of commercial work that comes and goes, they know that this will be remembered.

[Lawrence Kendrick]

There are very few mediums like this which which just stand, exist and get played again and again and again and are valid forever. I'll still be proud of this when I'm an old man.

[Dallas Taylor]

20,000 Hz is produced by my sound agency, Defacto Sound. Hear [e-mail] or by following Defacto Sound on Instagram. This episode was written and produced by Casey Emerling with help from Grace East. It was sound designed and mixed by Colin Devarney and Joel Boyder. Thanks to our guests Will Cohen and Lawrence Kendrick from String and Tens. Will and Lawrence wanted to make it clear that this project was a team effort.

[Will Cohen]

It was worth saying we just had a really awesome team. Pete Doggett, Phil Lee, Kevin Langhammer and Damian Pace with our most excellent tech, George Hinson.

[Lawrence Kendrick]

We love you very much.

[Dallas Taylor]

Much George. Finally, take a moment to think of the biggest Harry Potter fan you know. Then tap the share button in this podcast app and send this episode to them. I'm Dallas Taylor. Thanks for listening. Before we go, don't forget that our show can't exist if we don't stay booked with ads, so supporting our sponsors also supports us as long as you use our unique URLs and promo codes whenever possible. With that in mind, get 3 months of free payroll at Gusto.com 20k Explore the expansive world of jazz with the youe'll Hear it podcast. Start building an incredible sound [e-mail] finally, if you never want to hear another message about the finances of 20,000 Hertz again, the answer is simple. Just sign up for our premium feed by visiting 20K.org/ or by tapping subscribe in Apple Podcasts for just five bucks a month, you'll be free from ads, but you'll still get the mystery sound. Plus you'll even get new episodes three days early. What's not to like? Again, that's 20k.org/plus.