![\"In](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/BEEF_n_S2_E8_00_30_38_16.jpg\")
Beef. (L to R) Cailee Spaeny as Ashley Miller, Carey Mulligan as Lindsay Crane-Martin, Charles Melton as Austin Davis in episode 208 of Beef. (Photo courtesy of Netflix \u00a9 2026)<\/p>\nWhen we watch films and television, our attention, understandably, focuses on the visuals. The colors and the performances, or \u2013 if we\u2019re more cinematically literate \u2013 maybe the cinematography, or the editing. Sound is never the first thing that comes to mind, even though it might be one of the most important tools at a filmmaker\u2019s disposal when it comes to shaping how we feel.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The second season of \u201cBeef,\u201d the anthology show created by Lee Sung Jin, relies on sound to create an environment wracked with tension, rage, and anxiety. The show follows an escalating feud between two couples \u2013 wealthy Joshua (Oscar Isaac) and Lindsay (Carey Mulligan), and the much poorer Ashley (Cailee Spaeny) and Austin (Charles Melton) \u2013 that kicks off when Ashley and Austin decide to blackmail Joshua and Lindsay with footage of a heated argument.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Supervising sound editor Christopher Gomez and re-recording mixers Penny Harold and Andrew Garrett Lange are part of the team that brought the soundscape of \u201cBeef\u201d to life. All three worked on the show\u2019s first season, which follows the aftermath of a road rage incident. But this season called for a slightly more light touch.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cSeason one was very raw and very much about the tit for tat \u2013 the overt beef that was happening,\u201d said Harold, who handles the mixing of dialogue and music. \u201cSeason two is obviously still about a beef, but much more polished. We had to take much more subtle cues to try and help build the tension.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
Beef. (L to R) Cailee Spaeny as Ashley Miller, Carey Mulligan as Lindsay Crane-Martin, Charles Melton as Austin Davis in episode 208 of Beef. (Photo courtesy of Netflix \u00a9 2026)<\/p>\n
Coming into season two, the team who had worked on the first season of \u201cBeef\u201d had a pre-established shorthand with Lee (whom they call Sonny). According to Gomez, that shorthand and Lee\u2019s collaborative approach to showrunning allowed for innovation on the part of the sound team.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cJust take a swing at it. Try something and see if it works,\u201d Gomez remembered Lee saying. \u201cHe wants us to think outside the box and constantly push ourselves to what we can do sonically that will help elevate the show to another level.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
That thinking outside the box mentality comes to a head in episode four, which finds Ashley having impromptu emergency surgery after a long, excruciating wait at the hospital. Dealing with both the impending surgery and the burden of secrets she\u2019s keeping from Austin, Ashley is haunted by the soundscape of what truly is a hospital from hell, filled with dripping bodily fluids and the increasingly rapid beep of a heart monitor in an otherwise silent room. But the real swing comes in the form of a wormhole when Ashley finally goes under.<\/p>\n
The idea for the wormhole came from Lange, who modulated the sound of the heart monitor to pull Ashley and the audience into blackness.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cI thought it\u2019d be fun to feature that heart monitor \u2013 pull everything else way down and just kind of let that heart monitor be the thing that takes us down,\u201d Lange said. \u201cI even kind of repitched it to match the key of the music and let it fade into reverb, and then just kind of sustain the rumble through the black.\u201d<\/p>\n
This particular sequence is a sonic cornucopia, filled with a mix of score (composed by Finneas O\u2019Connell), dialogue, and sound effects. It\u2019s a perfect example of how intricately sound teams must thread these elements together, creating a sense of unease.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cA sequence like that \u2013 starting on the vending machine with the red Gatorade all the way through the wormhole \u2013 we probably spent at least a day on it in total, trying to hit all these little beats and make sure we hear everything very precisely and purposefully,\u201d Harold said.\u00a0<\/p>\n
For the \u201cBeef\u201d sound team, creating tension sonically comes down to more than just throwing an eerie drone in the mix or bombarding the audience with loud noises. The work is more about finding little moments where sound can heighten what\u2019s already there \u2013 a weedwacker that rides the fine line between loud and overbearing, or the sounds of an argument slowly getting louder as the camera rounds a corner.\u00a0<\/p>\n
It\u2019s also about supporting the performances on screen. The fight between Joshua and Lindsay that kicks off the whole blackmail scheme was the first big test.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cOscar and Carey were so phenomenal. Their performances shine through. How do we work with what they\u2019ve given us?\u201d Gomez said. \u201cYou pepper in these sounds. You feel like you\u2019re getting closer. Now all of a sudden, you as a viewer go from taking a step back and watching everything to now, all of a sudden, you\u2019re in it. Now you\u2019re part of the fight.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Creating the soundscape of that original fight meant playing close attention to the way the camera moves. At one point, a dolly shot within the house switches to handheld. That switch is accompanied by an explosion of sound, matching the rawness of the new visual with what we hear.\u00a0<\/p>\n
As a mixer, Lange said he\u2019s always zeroing in to what\u2019s happening on the screen. That might sound obvious, but it takes a tremendous amount of attention to detail.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s really easy to zone in on your computer monitor and just look at your Pro Tools screen and edit window,\u201d Lange said. \u201cBut at the end of the day, we\u2019re bringing what\u2019s on the screen to life. So we\u2019re constantly trying to watch and see for any little thing that might inspire us to accent with a sound.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
And inspiration can come from the most unlikely of places. In a later episode, a tense dinner is interrupted by Austin\u2019s stomach growling. Gomez and Lange spent what felt like eons trying out different tummy rumble sound effects, looking for one that would be audible enough to be uncomfortable, but not overwhelming \u2013 the life of a soundman. After trying out different versions and not finding the right balance, Gomez used his own personal experience.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cI was sitting home on the weekend one day, and my stomach was just going crazy,\u201d he said. \u201cI just grabbed my phone, shoved my phone into my stomach and recorded those sounds.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Each person on the sound team has their own favorite moments from the show, whether it be the wormhole or the tummy rumble. For Harold, though, the needledrops take the cake. She found it a fun challenge to take O\u2019Connell\u2019s score and, with help from music editor Luke Dennis, blend it with different songs that might not necessarily have the same tempo or sensibility.\u00a0<\/p>\n
One of Harold\u2019s favorite needledrops in the show is \u201cHeads Will Roll,\u201d by Yeah Yeah Yeahs.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cFinneas\u2019 score is very warm and rounded, and then \u2018Heads Will Roll\u2019 is raw, and kind of mid-rangey,\u201d Harold said.\u201d Using EQ and volume, and different little tricks, ducking things here and there to blend those two pieces into each other \u2013 I\u2019m really happy with how that came out.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Season two of \u201cBeef\u201d is now streaming on Netflix.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"When we watch films and television, our attention, understandably, focuses on the visuals. The colors and the performances,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":946789,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4317],"tags":[264243,6850,139181,151742,264244,264245,264246,105,264247,218,451,74266,264248,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-946788","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-mental-health","8":"tag-andrew-garrett-lange","9":"tag-beef","10":"tag-cailee-spaeny","11":"tag-carey-mulligan","12":"tag-charles-melton","13":"tag-christopher-gomez","14":"tag-finneas-oconnell","15":"tag-health","16":"tag-lee-sung-jin","17":"tag-mental-health","18":"tag-netflix","19":"tag-oscar-isaac","20":"tag-penny-harold","21":"tag-uk","22":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/116540764862855734","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/946788","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=946788"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/946788\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/946789"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=946788"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=946788"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=946788"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}