Tron: Legacy (soundtrack)

Tron: Legacy soundtrack is the soundtrack to the 2010 film of the same name, released by Walt Disney Records on December 3, 2010. It is the first film score by French music duo Daft Punk.

Background
Tron: Legacy director Joseph Kosinski and music supervisor Jason Bentley approached Daft Punk and requested that the duo compose the film score.When asked why he wished to work with the duo, Kosinski replied, "How could you not at least go to those guys?" The film producers initially attempted to reach Daft Punk in 2007, but the duo had been unavailable due to their Alive 2006/2007 tour. Thomas Bangalter of Daft Punk had previously produced the soundtrack to Gaspar Noé's 2002 film Irréversible. Noé had asked Bangalter to compose the soundtrack to the film Enter the Void, but Bangalter was working on Tron: Legacy at the time and instead served as sound effects director.

The score of Tron: Legacy features an 85-piece orchestra, recorded at AIR Lyndhurst Studios in London. Kosinski stated that the score is intended to be a mixture of orchestral and electronic music. Daft Punk's score was arranged and orchestrated by Joseph Trapanese, who stated he is a fan of Daft Punk as a duo and as solo artists. The band collaborated with him for two years on the score, from pre-production to completion. The orchestra was conducted by Gavin Greenaway. Trapanese cited the collaboration between the different genres to work out well in the end, stating: "It seems complicated at the end of the day, but it’s actually quite simple. I was locked in a room with robots for almost two years and it was simply a lot of hard work. We were just together working throughout the whole process and there was never a point where the orchestra was not in their minds and the electronics were not in my mind. It was a continual translation between the two worlds and hopefully we put something together that will be something different because of that."

Commenting on the Tron: Legacy score, Guy-Manuel de Homem Christo commented that "We knew from the start that there was no way we were going to do this film score with two synthesizers and a drum machine.” Daft Punk cited Wendy Carlos, the composer of the original Tron film, as inspiration for the soundtrack as well as Max Steiner, Bernard Herrmann, John Carpenter, Vangelis and Maurice Jarre. De Homem-Christo also stated that Tron was a strong influence on him as a child. "Maybe I only saw it two or three times in my entire life, but the feel of it is strong even now, that I think the imprint of the first [film] will not be erased by the new one. It has a real visionary quality to it." De Homem-Christo noted that Tron: Legacy "was cut to the music. Usually, composers come in at the end when everything is done."

The first theatrical trailer for Tron: Legacy featured the track "The Game Has Changed". A "special presentation" trailer featuring Daft Punk and their track "Derezzed" was released online on October 26, 2010. The official music video for "Derezzed" was released online on December 7, 2010. The video features Daft Punk playing an old arcade game in Flynn's Arcade, and an appearance by Tron: Legacy cast member Olivia Wilde

A deluxe edition of the album was made available from the official Tron: Legacy soundtrack website that includes a poster of Daft Punk as they appear in the film. In regions outside the United States, a two-disc special edition was made available for a limited time. As a pre-order bonus for the album on the iTunes Store, "Derezzed" was released as a promotional single on December 8, 2010. The iTunes release of the album includes two bonus tracks: "Father and Son" and "Outlands, Pt. II". The Amazon MP3 version of the album includes the bonus track "Sea of Simulation". The Ovi release of the album includes the bonus track "Sunrise Prelude". The songs "Separate Ways (Worlds Apart)" by Journey and "Sweet Dreams (Are Made of This)" by Eurythmics are featured in the film, but absent from the soundtrack album.