"Less shouting and it's more measured": How The Bear Season 4 created its New Kitchen Rhythm

FX's psychological dramedy The Bear, starring Jeremy Allen White, premiered its new season on June 25, 2025. Created by Christopher Storer, this Emmy-winning series explores the life of Carmy Berzatto, an award-winning chef determined to transform his late brother's sandwich shop into a Michelin-starred restaurant. After several ups and downs, including financial setbacks and a poor review in the Chicago Tribune, when the titular restaurant finally found its footing in The Bear Season 4, Carmy decided to quit.

From clanging pots to shouting chefs and overlapping dialogues, The Bear has often been loved for its realistic portrayal of the kitchen sounds. However, The Bear Season 4 has taken a sharp sonic twist to match the storyline and the character's arc. Steve Major Giammaria, the supervising sound editor, told Variety:

"It’s still chaotic, but it’s less shouting and it’s more measured. There’s like a metronome, a beat to the whole thing,”

The Bear Season 4 sounds different — even though it's still intense and stressful — there's a rhythm to it, a beat, and a sense of control as everything teeters on the edge. In a 2023 interview with No Film School, Giammaria opened up about how they designed sound for The Bear Season 1. He revealed that the showrunner had a clear vision and was specific about the sounds, Giammaria added.

"We went through a few iterations of what the default kitchen sound should be, but once we hit total chaos, it was all about pushing it further and further. Often there’s a song playing as score, multiple people yelling, and production sound that includes pots and pans and working stoves tied to the dialogue as well as added foley and sound FX."

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How is the kitchen rhythm in The Bear Season 4 different from the previous seasons?

The sound of the kitchen has always been a character in its own right. But The Bear Season 4 has tweaked the sound according to the storylines. What's changed? In past seasons, the sound was vertical - pots slamming, forks clinking, and glass breaking; now it's more horizontal and soft. Think of the low hum of the dishwasher's bubbling sound as background noise. Giammaria further added,

"If they’re in the office, it’s Sugar and Richie talking about something in the office, it’s maybe not as chaotic outside the door as it would have been in Season 3 or especially Season Two during construction.”

The Bear Season 4 reflects that Carmy and his team are no longer scrambling to survive; instead, they are aiming for excellence.

Do not worry, the chaos is still there. For instance, in The Bear Season 4 Episode 1, as the staff rushes to tighten up their workflow, the sounds follow their steady pace, and it slowly builds up to match the anxiety of the frame.

The sound team also plays with quieter moments, for instance, in Episode 5 when Carmy cracks into one of Marcu's new desserts- the crunch was crafted using 10-15 layers of chocolate bars snapping. The result? It's elegant, fancy, and oddly satisfying.

Similarly, the quiet scenes between Carmy and his mom, or his discussion with Sydney about leaving the restaurant, carry as much tension as any kitchen blow-up. As the dialogue editor Evan Benjamin puts it,

"Each sound contains an emotional valence. Everything means something, and it might mean something that you don’t want. Each one of those decisions is a tiny decision, but I feel like when you add them all up, you’re changing the emotional content of a scene in one way or another.”

Season 4 proves that pressure doesn't have to be blaring. Sometimes the quiet can hit harder. The sound team didn't just tone things down. They sharpened the edges, smoothed the flow, and made every moment count.

The Bear has been renewed for a fifth season.

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Also read: Carmy’s finale twist in The Bear Season 4 hits harder after the truth about his father

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