Magic: The Gathering from Wizards of the Coast is a collectable card game phenomenon that has been around for ten years. Devotees collect thousands of the cards which feature imaginative artwork of creatures, wizards, and the spells they cast in their different colored realms.

Certainly, fascination with magic and magical powers is eternal. Today we find it in books, movies, and games. I have composed music for games, records, television, and film, but my brush with magic came when I was selected to compose the score for Atari’s new Xbox version of the game, Magic: The Gathering Battlegrounds.

When I got the word from Scott Snyder, Audio Director at Atari, that the audio design plan for MTGB was to do the entire score in surround sound (about 40 min), I had yet to write a note. As the concept of scoring entirely in surround began to sink in, I became excited by the idea of being able to write - really write - for this medium. I would be able to create music with lots of movement attached, not the stationary conventional orchestral instrument positions with rear ambience like in films and games where sound effects can take up the surround space. I don’t know how many next-gen platform games have mixed all in-game music with a movement bent surround music mix, but it adds a whole new level of interest to game play. In addition, more people will soon be able to embrace motion-filled surround game music soundtrack albums on their home audio systems.

As MTGB is an arena fighting game where the action takes place in the center, I was told I wouldn’t have to share the surround space with in-game sound effects. Placement of the sound effects would sit in the center channel, with the dueling wizards voices panned front left and right.

Given this freedom, I wanted to make the score akin to an amusement park ride, heightening the game’s intensity with spatial manipulation of musical events. Swirling in the air. Fantastic in nature. The music would create surges of events traveling around you, through you, and across you in symmetrical planes of movement, yet never losing the music’s meaning and theme.

In preparation, I made mental notes on what I wanted to do with the music in surround, which varied with each piece I was writing. First, I had to find the vibe, the musical voice, and its distinctive natures. Producer Leif Jensen and Art Director Christopher Bretz at Secret Level, the developer of MTGB, along with Atari Producers Kirby Fong and David Brown, helped shape the direction by supplying their vivid written descriptions and artwork which detailed what the duelists believed in and stood for. I was able to envision the wizards controlling the elements to defeat each other in the red desert with its baked, cracked earth and bizarre rock formations, and on the floating islands in the sky.

Looking to take advantage of the additional speakers does not necessarily color the music up front. Initially, I had to digest the material and then let it spill out in a drum improvisation on the keyboard. Next, I orchestrated this improv with all its quirks and odd lengths. The UI screens were the first to get this treatment and the reaction from Secret Level was a big thumbs up. I then knew that this improv feel was a key part of the game’s musical identity. I also knew the music had to come from a deep place, that I should rid myself of the expected and let the instinctual take over. MTGB is a world created out of fantasy and mythology where primal energies are at work. Conjuring and wielding a spell is a wild imaginative thrust, not a conventional one. For composers, improvisation has always been where the magic happens. I told myself that instincts (improvs) were the foundation, the basis. I would then orchestrate the improvs, adding different layers and dispersing them in surround, like the wizards refining control over the elements.

This decision to go with this approach as opposed to more predetermined, structured ideas created music that is less repetitious and more ambient aggressive. Going with instinct, trusting that which comes out naturally is the answer to the question. You have to fight your logical mind, which is sometimes hard for schooled composers. Art Lande (ECM Records), a beloved jazz pianist and one of my teachers, exposed me to all kinds of improvisational games. Through these exercises you learn to trust your immediate emotions and be more physical with the music. Let the magic happen and then you will get the effect of not knowing what is coming next. This, I discovered, works well in a fighting game.

Orchestrating this drum patch instrument track that I improvised had finger clusters and chord intervals like a piano piece. That led to some inspiring accidents by assigning those beats to melodic instruments and human voices. This layering could then be applied to more speakers -- each having its own voice and yet part of the whole.

Some overall concepts of surround started to take hold in the first round of composing the Red arenas where 3 types of Timpani timbres combined with a couple of concert bass drum sounds. I thought if I layered with 3-4 different percussive sounds playing in unison, or in parts, and placed them all in separate listening fields of front, back, and the 2 sides, giving multicolor surround beats, these layered beats would then resound with their sheer physical dimension.

Attaching movement to the idle, that is, pedals tones, ambiences seemed like a natural tendency and, indeed, are both very expressive and physical. I tried to be more roaming with melody, especially in call and response mannerisms that coincide with instrument alternation. Dove-tailing is also something that feels supernatural with things, appearing and then reappearing in different locations and guises.

One moment, idling random percussion rolls like a nervous herd in place, and then rushing to another spot from which to graze. The crescendo surges of bare feet and hooves mimicked by exotic hand percussion rolling over the turf through you. Yes, the music got really sound design-like, particularly in the Green levels. The approaches to surround music were tied into the vibe of the level itself, the stories behind the music. Secret Level had a strong sense of the meaning attached to each color level and conveyed these interesting cultural references.

I tracked everything in ProTools in my house. I then transported everything in a desktop Glyph drive (so easy, no cartage) to the mixing studio, Persona, at Lake Hollywood. There, I hooked up with my mixing engineer, Adam Kagan, who has worked with Babyface, Aaron Neville, Gladys Knight and many other recording artists. Adam and I have worked together for ten years, but this was our first surround mix. I booked 4 full days for the surround mixing so we would have time to explore and experiment with ideas that might come to us. We sat surrounded by the Genelecs (speakers) and Adam worked the 5.1 ProTools controllers the way I had conceived the motions prior. We played around with the placement of stationary elements, where they should reside, and how long they should stay there. The types of movement and the speeds attached to those moves make for an entirely new level of performance by us. Sometimes a motion performance would fall short because the speed of motion was not quite right. How long does it take to circle or reach a diagonal destination?

So we then would redo in real time the moves again. Repetition of certain approaches created a style, an identity of surround that was linked characteristically to the level. The effect of movement between speakers can change the perspective of instrument density. When you are accustomed to hearing the music simply in stereo, everything is more clumped together, compacted. A new independence of voices emerges in surround, with things spread out. Choices need to be made to compensate for any areas that seem too thin. Adam envisioned having overhead speakers on the ceiling in future surround mixes, encompassing the listener even more.

But if the user doesn’t have surround how would the Xbox handle the breakdown to stereo? After getting the specs on the stereo fold-down from Xbox Music Content Consultant, Scott Selfon, we listened that way. Happily, these sounded great, and even had a more spread out, spacious feel to them than expected.

After mixing the in-game music with adventurous surround approaches, the FMVs were ready to be mixed. Being supportive to these wonderful MTGB movies and SFX created by Mondo Media, and knowing sound designer Jim Lively would have his cinematic surround SFX going, we backed off a bit on doing as much motion. The picture guided us in panning directions. Still, the placement of different groups of instruments separated out into their own listening fields was again exciting and added that extra dimension. A dimension that is hard stay away from once you’ve been there. Designing music for the surround space is like venturing into the great outdoors, it’s liberating to the composer, the listener, and the game experience itself.

About the author: For more about Stephen Geering and his music, visit www.ingeermusic.com