Tron (soundtrack)

Background

The soundtrack for TRON was written by pioneer electronic musician Wendy Carlos, who is best known for her album Switched-On Bach and for the soundtracks to many films, including A Clockwork Orange and The Shining. The music, which was the first collaboration between Carlos and her partner Annemarie Franklin, featured a mix of an analog Moog synthesizer and Crumar's GDS digital synthesizer (complex additive and phase modulation synthesis), along with non-electronic pieces performed by the London Philharmonic Orchestra (hired at the insistence of Disney, which was concerned that Carlos might not be able to complete her score on time). Two additional musical tracks were provided by the band Journey after British band Supertramp pulled out of the project.

Shortly before the release of TRON, Walt Disney Pictures edited out the second part of the ending title's score from the film, and replaced it with the song "Only Solutions". This was done after the soundtrack album was already completed, so the soundtrack album features Carlos' complete piece for the end titles. As one of the special features on the 2002 2 disc 20th anniversary DVD and Blu-ray versions of the film, a version of the end titles is presented with Carlos' score intact.

Shortly after Tron's theatrical release, Carlos said in an interview that she was not happy with the use of the orchestra, saying that her music, with its variable time signatures, was too difficult to perform in the time they were allotted. She would end up replacing portions of the orchestral performances with GDS performances.

The soundtrack album was released on record and tape by CBS Records in 1982. It was released again on CD in January 2002 by Walt Disney Records. with three additional tracks. Some of the film's music can also be heard in its companion arcade game. Finally, it was released again on vinyl in August 2014 by Walt Disney Records.

For years, the soundtrack was unavailable on CD, originally due to a dispute between Carlos and CBS Records. Carlos later discovered that the original master tapes had deteriorated to the point where attempting to play them could destroy both the tapes and the playback machine. Carlos used a technique called tape baking (in which the tapes were literally baked in an oven to harden the glue holding the magnetic tape together) to repair the tapes so she could transfer them to digital masters.

Cover versions

Chiptune artists 8 Bit Weapon released their 8 bit music tribute to the original Tron soundtrack. The tribute was made using vintage computers and video game consoles such as Commodore 64, Nintendo Entertainment System, Nintendo Game Boy, Apple II, and Atari 2600.