In 1992 Les Gilbert designed and created an extensive series of soundscapes for the then new Oceanarium at the John G Shedd Aquarium in Chicago. The exhibits feature the wildlife and habitats of the Pacific North West. The Oceanarium offers spectacular views of  Lake Michigan and presents a graceful architectural addition to the beautiful art deco heritage building the Aquarium has inhabited since the late 1920s.

The Oceanarium has two major tanks. One for Pacific white-sided dolphins and the other for beluga whales. Surrounding these tanks are recreations of Pacific Coast forest environments including a sea otter exhibit.

Les’ Gilbert's recordings create a naturalistic soundscape and are heard throughout the recreated Pacific North West forest exhibits. The Underwater Viewing Galleries also provide visitors with wonderful other-worldly views of the dolphins and belugas.

There are also a series of interactive media exhibits for which Magian upgraded the hardware at the ten year anniversary of the opening of the Oceanarium.

These soundscapes are created from underwater recordings of many marine mammal species including dolphins, whales, narwhals and walrus. As well as Les Gilbert’s recordings these soundscapes include recordings made by Canadian John Ford.

The soundscapes originally operated from an early version of the Magian DiAC System. In 2002 Magian Design

Studio re-fitted the soundscapes, converting the software and hardware to the latest version of the Magian DiAC System. Magian also re-purposed all of the old laser disk based media programs to digital formats to operate within the Magian MMaP System.