Don MacBain composes an original score for an outside-the-box project
by Gabrielle Russon
Don MacBain sat quietly, thinking about the beautiful, sparkling gems on display in the meditative silence of the Mineral Gallery at the Petroleum Museum in Midland, Texas. The room’s centerpiece, holding court over a hundred exquisite specimens, is a geode the size of a boulder, so enormous it can’t be moved without a forklift. Some of the surrounding displays feature polished, gemlike stones, but the most stunning are uneven and more natural, with glimmering crystals cascading down rough rock edges.
MacBain couldn’t help but wonder: what sort of soundtrack could complement such a space? How can one write a score suiting its mineral marvels and the hushed presence of Mother Nature? What might the formation of a geode sound like, as sonic texture and as music? MacBain sat down at his electronic keyboard and got to work.
The award-nominated media producer, whose 40-year career spans feature films and digital effects in animation, is finally focusing on his true passion: music. He sees museums as having an untapped opportunity to strengthen existing exhibits by adding specially tailored music that accompanies and accentuates the works on display, creating new sensory experiences for guests. For the industry, it’s more proof to the value of reinvestment and improvement, even for existing exhibits.
Some museums license musical soundtracks to create a maximum emotional effect. Other museums take it a step further and hire composers to create custom music personalized for the exhibit. At the Petroleum Museum, MacBain composed an original score called “Meditation on a Geode” that began playing in a 30-minute loop this year. “We have a pretty unique claim: What you’re hearing was custom scored for us, and you’re not going to hear it anywhere else,” said Bryan Grant, the museum’s executive director.
Grant always assumed the Mineral Gallery had been complete when he stepped into his role last year. The low-lit room was a peaceful and meditative environment where the beautiful rocks were the main focus. What else did the museum need? Nothing, Grant figured.
However, MacBain had a vision that he pitched directly to the museum after he previously produced 100 pieces of their media a decade ago. Hearing the sounds of the oil industry during his previous experience on-location doing media production gave him a reference point for the potential soundscape for the Mineral Gallery. Music would enhance the meditative feeling of the room, MacBain believed.
“Now that the soundtrack is there I don’t know how we managed without it,” Grant said. “Don’s music feels like you’re in this underground cave with all these amazing crystals. You feel it as soon as you walk into the room, transporting you to a different spot even though you’re standing in the middle of the Petroleum Museum.”
Although the music is captivating, Grant felt it was important that the score be cohesive with the room – allowing the geodes to still be the stars. The music is neither overpowering nor too loud nor is it too quiet to go unnoticed.
Grant said he hadn’t considered using a soundtrack in a museum before this point. If a board member would have encouraged him to add music, Grant said he likely would have considered buying open licensed stock music online and then trying to find one piece that worked. Instead, working directly with a composer meant the Petroleum Museum received a custom piece of music for the gallery and its atmosphere.
The space features MacBain’s music playing from SONOS speakers hidden above the gem cases, but he also installed three specially tuned windchimes concealed in different areas of the gallery, activated by oscillating fans and adding to the constantly-changing soundscape.
MacBain also chose to add an Acolyte Instruments handpan drum that visitors can softly play while in the exhibit space. The drum plays in the D-minor Celtic scale and matches an audio patch of the drum MacBain integrated into his score, so that no matter what guests play on the drum it fits with the music.
“It provided a very hands-on analog interactive way for people that come through the museum to be able to have a little bit of fun and interact within that gallery,” MacBain said. “Each time somebody walks through this gallery, they’re going to get a completely different experience sonically. Maybe nobody’s playing the drums, or maybe a couple kids are having a jam session.”
The Petroleum Museum tells the local community’s deep- rooted oil history. Even though museum staff want to bring in art (as part of STEAM, which also includes science, technology, engineering and math) that can be difficult considering the museum’s industry-focused theme. Then along came the drum and MacBain’s musical score.
MacBain wants to reinvent museums and work with clients who understand the power music can have connecting emotionally with visitors and keeping them engaged to grow attendance. “It’s thinking outside the box,” MacBain said of his latest venture giving museums a new sound.
An artist at work
MacBain composed “Meditations on a Geode” on the synth in his studio. “Once I sit down, and then if something fascinates me, I’m gone for hours. I’m just in the zone,” MacBain said. “It’s just when I put myself in that space, if something inspires me, then it sort of takes hold and I just go with it.”
He explained the creativity behind his original score which took about four months to complete and was ultimately produced at Margarita Mix, a commercial recording studio in Santa Monica.
Permian Basin Petroleum Museum Retiring Executive Director Kathy Shannon, Engineer Jeff Levy (at console – creating spatial audio), and Don MacBain (at Margarita Mix).
He wanted his music to feel “like you’re in a cavernous space, so it has this metallic spaceship hum that goes through it. Then I began imagining the crystals forming and folding in on each other.” He also found inspiration in learning how geodes form from flowing and cooling lava, which actually pulses somewhat like a heartbeat.
Grant sensed MacBain’s devotion to his work as the composer traveled to Texas and handled the installation of the project. “You could tell he was passionate about what he does,” Grant said. “You could almost see a sense of joy in him. He’s not just collecting a paycheck.”
Child prodigy turned producer
For nearly 40 years, MacBain worked as a producer in movies, commercials and theme parks. Some of his major projects included being production supervisor on the cult classic “Starship Troopers” and being the digital producer on the flying theater at Ferrari World Abu Dhabi as well as also producing Ferrari Land’s flying theater film at PortAventura World in Spain.
But few people he worked with knew his passion for playing music and that he is a classically trained piano player. “He’s a very accomplished musician, and it’s always been a very big part of his life. Even though he is spending a lot of his time producing, there was always a studio and a bunch of instruments nearby,” said his close friend and collaborator Cecilia González-Andrieu. “Whenever he walked in the door in my house, the first thing he would do would be to walk over to the piano.”
MacBain has occasionally shown off his composition talents over the years, such as when he created a corporate theme for Wells Fargo or developed the film score for “Full Clip” starring rapper Busta Rhymes.
MacBain’s love of music developed early. At age five, he picked out “Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star” and was able to mimic, by ear, his older sister’s lessons on the piano. His talents surprised his family, and his mom soon had him paired with his own piano teacher. He majored in Communication Arts (B.A. – Film Production) with a minor in music at Loyola Marymount University in Los Angeles which is where he met González-Andrieu. Early on, MacBain showed a level of sophistication and professionalism that stood out among the other college students, González-Andrieu said. He was juggling his studies and singing in the chorus while he also worked on commercial shoots as a production assistant and production coordinator.
“He is one of these rare but wonderful creatures who has really classical training,” she said, calling MacBain an “extraordinary pianist.”
During the height of the AIDS crisis, González-Andrieu produced a public service announcement to encourage love and acceptance – a radical message at that time. MacBain composed the score. She talked about the storyboard and her vision and then let MacBain create. He was in control of the music and González-Andrieu said she trusted him completely. “He was the master,” she said. The result was a PSA with an emotional punch where she was proud of getting the message out, not to mention its nomination for a Clio Award.
“All the music that he did was always really effective in getting your heart involved and pulling you into a place where you were emotionally invested in what you were watching,” González-Andrieu said. “His music excels at that.”
The museum opportunity
As museums continue to reinvent how music is incorporated into their spaces, the Petroleum Museum’s executive director said MacBain’s music adds a finalizing touch to the Mineral Gallery. “It completed a sensory experience in the room that I didn’t know needed completing,” said Grant. “This is what this environment needed to be all along. It really does complete the space.”
For MacBain, it’s the first in a string of musical projects he hopes to create, drawing on his vast experience in multiple disciplines. “Both film and theme parks have long understood the importance of music,” MacBain explained. “I think there’s a huge opportunity for museums to enhance both new and existing exhibits with music to add additional dimensions to the guest experience.”
MacBain is certain the market is only going to expand. “As museums increasingly need to compete with other visitor experiences, soundscapes are a proven way to re-energize spaces and draw in more guests. And that increased attendance should be music to any museum director’s ears.” •
To reach Don MacBain, you can write to him at [email protected], or visit his music website BackGroundSongs.com
