Jim Dale vs. Stephen Fry

[niceguyjsk]

I think Jim Dale's voice-over brilliance has been referenced by Jeff more than once now.. but I just can't agree. I was wondering if anyone else on the forums have had a chance to listen to both Jim Dale (US) AND Stephen Fry's (UK) readings of the Harry Potter books. My personal opinion is that Stephen Fry does such a better job at reading the books and acting out the voices, that Jim Dale just pales horribly by comparison. His voice is raspy and hoarse and many of the characters he voiced sounded too much alike to me. So does anyone share this opinion or is it just me? Maybe I need my ears checked :p

[jafarykos]

I completely disagree. In my opinion, Jim Dale is waaay better than Stephen Fry. To me, it was Stephen that had the monotone voice where I was barely unable to discern the characters. Jim Dale's character voices are almost identical to the ones in the movie, which is very impressive since he did those voices for three books before the movies came out. To me, that means the actors modeled their voice acting based on Jim Dales interpretation.

I've read; however, that Europeans prefer Stephen Fry over Jim Dale and Americans the other way around.

On the other hand, I loved Stephen Fry in his reading of Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy.

[phunlee]

You know, these are the Harry Potter books. JK and her co-horts wouldn't allow just anyone to read these. I've never listened to Stephen Fry's version of the books. I love Jim Dale's completely. I bet preference has to do w/which one you listened to first. That's usually what creates preferences.

I know Dale has won awards for his readings, I bet Fry has, too. I'm gonna try to find a Fry reading, then I'll let you guys know which is the best. :D

[darthender]

It was funny because litterally a couple days before that episode of TRS came out mentioning the audiobooks for Harry Potter and how great that guy is I heard it mentioned also on Kevin Smiths podcast for that week.

[tsmith15]

Where can I hear these? I read the book manually, but I want to hear just for comparison's sake.

[gm_wil]

*scribbles Jim Dale on a piece of paper and drops it in the voter's box*

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[hbd]

I'm Canadian, and I vote Stephen Fry!

[niceguyjsk]

Where can I hear these? I read the book manually, but I want to hear just for comparison's sake.

You can probably find them, or at least one of the two versions at your local library. But they should also be pretty easy to find on the internets if you search for them at any popular bittorrent site.. or so I'm told ;)

[wideawakewesley]

I haven't heard either, but I can't possibly imagine any man better than Stephen Fry at anything.

;)

Wes

[sdalberg]

I've listened to both. I've got to say that I think Jim Dale is a much better voice actor, he conveys characters without resorting to extremes. But I think most people preference comes down to who they heard first, and whomever comes after that will usually just be wrong. That may be my problem with Fry.

[hbd]

I've listened to both. I've got to say that I think Jim Dale is a much better voice actor, he conveys characters without resorting to extremes. But I think most people preference comes down to who they heard first, and whomever comes after that will usually just be wrong. That may be my problem with Fry.

Probably true. I listened to Stephen Fry read the first four books, and then Jim Dale on the fifth. I was glad to go back to Stephen for the 6th and 7th. :)

[niceguyjsk]

Well, I have to say, after watching Pushing Daisies with Jim Dale doing the narration, I take back anything negative I've said about him. He does a brilliant job and I'm guessing I only prefer Stephen Fry for the Harry Potter books because he's who I started listening to first.. not that Stephen Fry narrating Pushing Daisies wouldn't be totally RAD :D

[wiry_n_woody]

I've listened to all the books, narrated by both Jim Dale and Stephen Fry. While I started with Dale and was pleased, I found out that I prefer Fry's version all the way. And I'm neither British nor North American.

First of all, Dale has a weird, monotonous "melody" in the way he narrates. He reads without emphasising any of the words, which is very important when narrating stories. So every sentence feels exactly the same. If these were theatrical monologues, the audience wouldn't be very satisfied. Try listening to it without really paying attention to the words (for instance, if you are doing something else) and you'll see.

Then he sounds like his mouth is parched. I mean, there are times where I was like "ok, stop and drink some water!".

He's great at making voices, I give him that. But the way he reads the passages of the characters sometimes sound like he is trying too much. It's not natural. Like "nobody talks like that!". The good thing about the books is that Rowling is very specific and descriptive about the tones, moods, attitudes and psychological states of the characters, almost every time someone speaks. And I think Dale sometimes doesn't quite nail it.

Fry has a much more gripping narrative. He knows on which words to place the emphasis and he also changes the speed with which he reads, bringing the text to life. In addition, he is British therefore has an advantage over others when it comes to lending his way of talking to british characters. He really follows Rowling's "instructions" when it comes to "acting out" character dialogue. And he is not bad at colouring characters either. More subtle than Dale, but I feel this makes it all the more brilliant.

[stubadub]

I definitely prefer Jim Dale. I'd heard how great the narrator was for the Potter books before starting them. "It's amazing how good of a job he does switching characters. You can always tell who's talking just from the voice." I didn't find that to be the case, though I thought the narration was good enough. Turns out I'd started with Stephen Fry, and I heard Jim Dale starting with book 2. That's when I began to think that everything I'd heard was true. I instantly know which character is speaking based solely on the voice. The Jim Dale versions of the Harry Potter books are the absolute best work I've ever heard from an audio book.

[masherscf]

Personal tastes, they both do an excellent job reading the text. To claim that one is "way-better" than the other is preposterous.

[tokenuser]

Fry has a much more gripping narrative. I think the big difference is the Dale reads a story, while Fry tells a story. Telling a story is more of a performance - so I liked the Fry versions better.

[joeyrock]

I can't imagine that anyone can do Potter better than Stephen Fry. The man wrote a book (one of his many books) on how to read and write poetry. A book which does detail the importance of understanding how words flow and the beauty which can be wrung out of a sentence.

Anyone been watching Stephen Fry in "Last Chance to See"? He does some excellent voice over work on that :p Plus he's repeating Douglas Adams' footsteps by doing a journey to track down some of the world's most endangered animals. Amazing program. If anyone follows his twitter; it's what he was doing in places like Madagascar 6->12 months ago.

The "Madame Berthe's Pygmy Mouse Lemur" is an extraordinary creature.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lLS1rwfWMX4

Here Stephen laughs at Mark Carwardine as he's getting shagged to death by a rare parrot.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9T1vfsHYiKY

Your move Dale! :p

[ruiyo]

Pitching my tent in the Stephen Fry camp, even though I listened to Jim Dale first. When I listen to the Stephen Fry versions I get lost in the story more than with Jim Dale (where I'm constantly aware that I'm listening to an audiobook). Basically I agree with the sentiment that Dale reads the story, while Fry tells the story.

Edit - and this is coming from someone who is usually a Stephen Fry detractor.

[wiry_n_woody]

I think the big difference is the Dale reads a story, while Fry tells a story.

A very astute observation!

[icu]

I feel it necessary to mention Frank Muller who I consider the greatest audio book narrator/story teller ever. If you have not heard his reading of The Dark Tower books do yourself a great service and pick it up. It's really brilliant work (he is missed).
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frank_Muller
Books (http://www.bitchen.com/muller/audlist.html)

[porpoisehork]

I'm an American, I've listened to both, and hands-down I prefer Stephen Fry over Jim Dale.

Before listening to either version I got the same sample chapters from each author and gave them a listen, switching back and forth between the two. I had never heard either narrate an audiobook before, or anything else for that matter.

I have to completely agree with Ruiyo, JoeyRock and Wiry_N_Woody ... Jim Dale reads the book while Stephen Fry tells you a story. Dale's performance is much more monotone and his voices are much less distinct. I had a much harder time discerning the different character voices than i did with Fry. He also doesn't emphasize the words much. Fry really emphasizes the dialoge and expresses the emotions ... you hear the snearing in Malfoy's voice, the concietedness in Lockhart's, and the angst and frustration when the characters get upset. With Jim dale you get a much more monotone read, and I found it much harder to get engaged in the story, and much easier to get distracted.

Don't get me wrong, I do like Dale's voice,and I would have hapily listened to his version of the books if I hadn't heard Stephen Fry's. He does as good of a job as most of the audio book readers I have heard. However, Fry's performance for this particuliar piece of work is far superior, and I'm very glad I dug around and tried both narrators before listening to the books. I just finished my 4th run through the audiobooks. Each successive time I tried to listen to the Jim Dale version for something different, but I gave up before the end of the first book and went back to the Fry Version ... it really is that much better. Fry's reading is as much responsible for me listening to the books multiple times as is Rowling's writing.

I'd encourage anyone interested in listening the audiobooks to listen to samples of both versions before deciding on one narrator for 120 hours of your life :)

[cenequus]

Wow people actually make this question?Well I kinda understand it by where it comes but really?Stephen Fry hands down no doubt.

[gm_wil]

Personal tastes, they both do an excellent job reading the text. To claim that one is "way-better" than the other is preposterous.

But necessary. If there is no competition people get complacent and it turns into a monopoly . . . and that's the quickest way for things to become stagnant.

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[aerodash84]

I've only heard Dale do book 6 of Harry Potter and Pushing Daisies for a few episodes that I'd seen.

I really enjoyed Fry's work on Bones, Alice in Wonderland and Little Big Planet.

So I can't really compare the two, but I enjoy Fry's work more. I need to hear more of Dale before I can call a winner.