# Tron Legacy Score



## adg21 (Dec 13, 2010)

I saw a prescreening of this film yesterday. I didn't think of much of the film, but the score was fantastic. 

People love to hate that 16th note repetitive stuff. To me it's like minimalism - when done badly it's boring, when done well it can be pretty mesmorising. Does anyone else hear Philip Glass in this?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C7561bKVFeU - listen to what happens at 2:08 - fantastic.

and elsewhere in the score some of that atari synth stuff is just perfect in this film.

Unfortunately the only thing good about this film is the score.


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## JPQ (Dec 16, 2010)

Thanks and looks like there is now another reason look film  and another is are special fx.


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## Ed (Dec 16, 2010)

snowleopard @ Wed Dec 15 said:


> years with actors and know how to tell good stories with their camera? .



Can you imagine if they made a film as good looking as Tron with a good story? omg


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## xenno (Dec 16, 2010)

Disney has been getting a pretty horrible rap for making bad movies and has needed a lot of consultation on most of their releases. Unknown directors end up in the chair, because no one else wants to waste their reputation with Disney's bad films.

As for the music, I tend to like this stuff a lot, but I think their song could use more chord changes instead of just using swells; I do like the end of the piece, but it does end up feeling like repetitive techno music. For the film I'm scoring now, I've been pretty attracted to modulating from a minor tonic to a major natural VII (I think that's what you could call it), then a minor 3rd above that, for all of my darker stuff. Like Cm, BM, Ebm, Bbm, Fm, Cm; pivoting around something like that type of modulation. It's similar to moving around in minor 3rds, but usually works for darker material. I think for a movie like Tron, they could use more complex textures with darker sounding modulated chords. It seems it would give it a more sophisticated feel.

BTW, what is the story behind Daft Punk doing the score? Are they classically trained or did they get they get help from a bunch of orchestrators?


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## Ed (Dec 16, 2010)

xenno @ Thu Dec 16 said:


> BTW, what is the story behind Daft Punk doing the score? Are they classically trained or did they get they get help from a bunch of orchestrators?



They had help from this guy I cant remember the name of, his name came up on the other Tron thread.


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## Ned Bouhalassa (Dec 16, 2010)

Joseph Trapanese


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## midphase (Dec 18, 2010)

Ok...sorry to poop in the Cool-Aid bowl for all of you, but here goes:

First of all I need to preface this by saying that I'm a huge fan of Daft Punk...since they showed me that a bit of tomato sauce can help you escape the law, and that talking dogs are both cute and sad at the same time. In addition I love bands like Justice and pretty much anything that Ed Banger puts out (oh, and I thought Electroma should have won an Oscar).

I purchased the Tron soundtrack this morning (haven't seen the film yet) since I kept hearing that one awesome track Derezzed all over the place and I figured if the rest of the soundtrack is like that it's totally worth the $$.

Ok...after listening to it for a few times, I must say it is a huge disappointment. First of all, the tracks that Daft Punk probably wrote are maybe 3 out of the 24 on the CD. Instead, I get over 20 tracks of the most bland and repetitive BS music I have heard in a long time....zzzzzzzzz. What the hell happened? I feel as if some Disney exec had the bright idea of attaching DP to the film in order to gain street buzz and credibility with the tech geek crowd...but the producers insisted that the score sound nothing like a true DP creation but instead some bland amalgam of cliche after cliche after heard-it-1000-times-before. Come on guys! 

I can hear the conversation between the Disney guys and Mr. Trapanese going something like this:

"Joe, ok...so here's what we like...Batman and Inception....can you give us something that sounds like the two of them? Oh, and the French guys will add some bleeps and bloops after you're done with the score and they'll get the full credit...cool?"


I can almost see the LSO string players looking at the music and rolling their eyes after realizing that they were going to be playing 200 bars of the same exact 5 notes!


I seriously expected a lot more out of this soundtrack, and I'm kinda saddened that some of you guys' expectations are so low that you view this as "fantastic" I'm down with minimalism and repetition...but what really irks me is cliched and derivative work being passed on to the public as "cutting edge creative" for the sake of selling film tickets...really sad!


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## adg21 (Dec 18, 2010)

Each to their own, I find the more Daft Punk sounding tracks a lot more boring, and I'm a fan of Daft Punk. 

Regarding who was involved in the project: tbh it doesn't really matter, good music is good music, whether it's was written solely by Daft Punk or not. I'm sure Daft Punk would be very open about who was involved in this anyway, it's not a conspiracy to trick people.

I also don't think anyone here thinks this is most cutting edge soundtrack ever made, if we're talking Avant Garde the original 80s soundtrack obviously trumps this. But as I say, each to their own, and I found elements of this soundtrack to be very good.

Regarding originality, lets not forget the infamous 'where Daft Punk got their samples from' http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MJPdVVOmbz4


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## Alex W (Dec 18, 2010)

I'm with Kays, that track posted at the top sounds like a lame Batman rip off. Philip Glass shouldn't be mentioned in the same sentence.


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## KingIdiot (Dec 18, 2010)

saw it friday. The whole movie feels derivative. Shit "borrowed" from Matrix to Star Wars. I fel the same way about the score

but I'm a happy camper since early in the film the original tron theme was referenced/easter egg'd

that and a massive fernet shot before the film started made it easy to turn my brain off...

Great movie? Great score? Meh. nothing horribly original

fun times, sure.


BTW, Andrew/thonex if you're reading this thread. While I was typing this, a bug jsut landed on my screen and did the walk your sig does, and I went, HOW THE HELL DID ME MAKE HIS SIG DO THAT!!! Awesome marketing.. then I realized it was real.

I hate you...


-A


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## adg21 (Dec 18, 2010)

Alex W @ Sun Dec 19 said:


> I'm with Kays, that track posted at the top sounds like a lame Batman rip off. Philip Glass shouldn't be mentioned in the same sentence.



Philip Glass is all over this soundtrack, especially the -qatsi era stuff


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## midphase (Dec 18, 2010)

Without getting into the "who would win in a fist fight: Philip Glass or DP" I think that Glass' type of minimalism is considerably more thought out and academic (for lack of better terminology), while the Tron tracks feel simply derivative from a number of other scores in my opinion.


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## midphase (Dec 18, 2010)

Just to add a couple of P.S.'s:

1. I do plan on seeing the film, I'm sure it'll be at the very least mindlessly entertaining.

2. Last night I watched "Exit Through the Gift Shop", I think it should be required viewing, especially for the folks around here. It is essentially a great documentary about how great hype can create great art (or at least the perception of such).


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## EnTaroAdun (Dec 19, 2010)

I just listened through the score.
Well .. it has some nice textures, but that's it.

Most of the tracks are very similar, the orchestration is like the work of a 15 year old, doing his firsts steps with his EWQLSO by trying to copy recent scores.
All in all I'm missing the finesse ... something that keeps the listener interested in the music. This is totally missing in my opinion.

I think the music will work well with the film ... but even there it still could be just a bit "more". And as music on its own it gets boring so fast, that it's hard to even listen to the whole OST in one go.

Really, really dissapointing.


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## jlb (Dec 19, 2010)

I am with Mr Folmann on this one  

jlb


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## choc0thrax (Dec 19, 2010)

One of the top 3 film scores for 2010. Tron, Inception, and How To Train Your Dragon are the only scores from this year that I still regularly listen to.

I tend to skip over a lot of the orchestral stuff in the Tron score.


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## germancomponist (Dec 19, 2010)

choc0thrax @ Sun Dec 19 said:


> One of the top 3 film scores for 2010. Tron, Inception, and How To Train Your Dragon are the only scores from this year that I still regularly listen to.
> 
> I tend to skip over a lot of the orchestral stuff in the Tron score.



+1

Well said, Mr. Choco! o-[][]-o


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## midphase (Dec 19, 2010)

choc0thrax @ Sun Dec 19 said:


> I tend to skip over a lot of the orchestral stuff in the Tron score.



So I guess it only takes you about 5 minutes to listen to the entire non-orchestral score!


My biggest issue with the Tron score is not that it's an awful score...but mostly that I was expecting something more unique out of Daft Punk. For instance, when Johnny Greenwood was hired to score There Will Be Blood, he didn't deliver a score which sounded just like Radiohead, but he certainly did deliver a score which was unique and interesting.

From Daft Punk, I would have liked something that didn't sound so much like everything else, otherwise what is the point of hiring Daft Punk instead of Zimmer?


"Regarding originality, lets not forget the infamous 'where Daft Punk got their samples from' http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MJPdVVOmbz4"

Another missed point. What Daft Punk was able to do is dig up obscure little tidbits from 70's records and turn them on their head into a whole new form of art...not unlike what Andy Warhol did with cans of Campbell soup. In the score for Tron they did nothing of the sort...which either means that they phoned it in, or that the executives put such a tight leash on their expectations that the end results are as safe as humanly possible. Contrast and compare this to the original Tron score which was truly a unique and risky score...nobody around here miss the times when movies (and studio execs) took chances?


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## Ed (Dec 19, 2010)

EnTaroAdun @ Sun Dec 19 said:


> Most of the tracks are very similar, the orchestration is like the work of a 15 year old, doing his firsts steps with his EWQLSO by trying to copy recent scores..



When people say things like this I always wonder if they really believe this is how good 15 year olds are, or how good they think 15 year olds should be. Do you have any examples of 15 year olds music that is as good as the Tron score? If not, perhaps you should reconsider how harsh your criticism is.

My betting is Daft Punk had virtually nothing to do with the actual score.


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## Dave Connor (Dec 19, 2010)

Brilliant!


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## IvanP (Dec 19, 2010)

I just entered Joseph's website and listened to "the bannen way" clips. 

Quite similar in style and felling to stuff heard in the movie...sounds as some Ghost writing to me....

In any case, I really enjoyed this score and Joseph's been a great discovery, I'm sure we'll hear a lot from this guy...


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## choc0thrax (Dec 19, 2010)

midphase @ Sun Dec 19 said:


> choc0thrax @ Sun Dec 19 said:
> 
> 
> > I tend to skip over a lot of the orchestral stuff in the Tron score.
> ...



I'd actually say it's more like 7 minutes but whatever. This works out well for me because of my crazy hectic life of waking up at 1pm(the local restaurant doesn't deliver chicken fingers before this time so there's no point in getting up earlier) and playing Nazi Zombies until dinner time. So I just don't have the time to listen to long stretches of music anyways.


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## Ed (Dec 19, 2010)

Here's an interesting track:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aFIXKXYfEy0

Maybe Daft Punk added some electronics on it, lol


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## adg21 (Dec 19, 2010)

regarding 'where Daft Punk got their samples from' - I was in no way suggesting this wasn't clever, just making a point of it's derivation.


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## adg21 (Dec 19, 2010)

Ed @ Sun Dec 19 said:


> Here's an interesting track:
> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aFIXKXYfEy0



2:32 does anyone else hear Mozart's requiem with a beat? (i'm only half joking)


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## EnTaroAdun (Dec 19, 2010)

Ed @ 2010-12-19 said:


> EnTaroAdun @ Sun Dec 19 said:
> 
> 
> > Most of the tracks are very similar, the orchestration is like the work of a 15 year old, doing his firsts steps with his EWQLSO by trying to copy recent scores..
> ...


I have nothing _comparable_ now, but what comes to my mind now in the context of 15 year old musicians is this one for example:
http://www.youtube.com/user/itsmadeon#g/u

It happened quite a few times, that I met some 15, 16 year old kids in forums, who posted some compositions, which were actually A LOT better than what we have in this TRON score. Of course the sound is often rather bad (bad mix, bad use of samples, bad samples), but the arrangement and the composition are sometimes quite good.

I'm not saying the TRON score is bad music at all. But it's certainly not impressive or deep or "brilliant".
Also don't get me wrong ... the orchestration doesn't always _have_ to be super-exciting. But if you go for that kind of minimal approach, you still have to do some interesting stuff in the background or small changes over time or use more interesting sounds, etc.
The music just really misses "content". Most likely they just did not have enough time to really make some great music.


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## sevaels (Dec 19, 2010)

*facepalm*


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## Ed (Dec 19, 2010)

EnTaroAdun @ Sun Dec 19 said:


> Ed @ 2010-12-19 said:
> 
> 
> > EnTaroAdun @ Sun Dec 19 said:
> ...



Well I'm really confused... that's a talented 15/16 year old but none of his music is even orchestral! :| Why even bother to offer it as an example of what we're talking about?

I'm sorry but saying Tron sounds like too much of a Batman ripoff or is a bit boring at times, which just listening to the soundtrack on its own I think I agree with somewhat ( maybe I'll change my mind when I see it to picture) is one thing... but I always think your kinds of criticisms are a bit lame and I roll my eyes everytime I see it. Maybe if you're a hardcore "fundamentalist composer" this is how you think. I would never have bothered to be a composer if I had listened to this kind of thinking.

Do you think Inception is good?


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## choc0thrax (Dec 19, 2010)

Inception has the single best cue of the year - "Time"


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## Dave Connor (Dec 19, 2010)

EnTaroAdun @ Sun Dec 19 said:


> I'm not saying the TRON score is bad music at all. But it's certainly not... "brilliant".



I was kidding when I said that. I haven't seen the film so I don't know how well the music works with film (which could be great.) I tend to agree with you that music in the link above is not particularly distinguished. I think that style is rather difficult to pull off. The best example I know of is the Philip Glass score to The Illusionist. Conversely his minimalist score to Hamburger Hill didn't work at all imho.


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## adg21 (Dec 20, 2010)

Ed @ Mon Dec 20 said:


> EnTaroAdun @ Sun Dec 19 said:
> 
> 
> > Ed @ 2010-12-19 said:
> ...



I agree, I also kinda sense an air of snobbery in this.



Ed @ Mon Dec 20 said:


> I'm sorry but saying Tron sounds like too much of a Batman ripoff or is a bit boring at times, which just listening to the soundtrack on its own I think I agree with somewhat ( maybe I'll change my mind when I see it to picture) is one thing...



As much as people keep saying this I don't actually think this soundtrack is all that similar to the dark knight


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## JohnG (Dec 20, 2010)

for those who loved it, could you say why? The sound, the fit with picture?


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## Ned Bouhalassa (Dec 20, 2010)

I haven't seen the film yet, but have been listening to the score for a bit. While it's true that there's nothing new in the orchestral parts, I get a kick out of a 303 or two jamming with a full orchestra! In fact, this is as good an integration of synth and orch as I've heard in a while. 

As for Daft Punk's input, I believe them when they say that they worked with the orchestra for a year, probably very closely with Trapanes, whistling, humming or playing ideas on synths, which he orchestrated/arranged. This is nothing new in Hollywood, is it?


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## adg21 (Dec 20, 2010)

I like it because it's got the sound of the hans zimmer "chicki-chicki-chicki-chicki-chicki-chicki-chicki...."


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## adg21 (Dec 20, 2010)

Serious answer to your question I think both. Sound palette, orchestration, arrangement, retro synth vibes, general ear-candy production, minimal elements, builds. The synth stuff is quite bold and in-your-face in places, kinda cheesy/camp and for what it's worth makes me pine for 80s soundtracks. Those sounds were really spot-on - I don't think we're talking cheapo VSTs. "musically" (whatever that means) maybe its quite simple. texturally it's pretty fruity.


Ned Bouhalassa @ Mon Dec 20 said:


> In fact, this is as good an integration of synth and orch as I've heard in a while.


Agree, this is probably my favourite thing about the soundtrack


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## poseur (Dec 20, 2010)

if there weren't a thread about it, here,
i certainly wouldn't engage in _any_ serious conversation about this score.
it's ok;
it's kinda cute, and certainly familiar & pleasant enough;
indeed, i do find it pleasant
--- i'd be absolutely fine to hear this in my dentist's office, really ---
if markedly unimaginative to the point of being retro-pedestrian,
not unlike the film.....
..... excepting, of course,
if i attempt to take what i sense of disney's (typically ultra-conservative, imo) M.O. & P.O.V.

but?
it doesn't bother me;
it doesn't excite me;
it doesn't get-my-goat, at all.

unless, of course, it will be nominated for an Academy Award:
in which case?
i won't be shocked at all, but merely (& again, typically) disappointed.

dt


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## JohnG (Dec 20, 2010)

ok. i feel better


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## Ed (Dec 20, 2010)

adg21 @ Mon Dec 20 said:


> As much as people keep saying this I don't actually think this soundtrack is all that similar to the dark knight



I agree in a way but I can see the similarity between Batman and Inception, in fact if I was going to describe it I'd say it was a cross between them with more synths. I think I would say Inception because of the low brass stuff they used and Batman because of those rhythmic 16th note stuff. Personally I love that kind of stuff, so long as it has something original in there and I think Tron does. I still havent seen the film, but I imagine it works very well. I know I love the music in the trailer.


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## midphase (Dec 20, 2010)

The only thing that I don't like about Poseur's posts is that I wish they were written in iambic pentameter and that every other line rhymed.


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## Ed (Dec 20, 2010)

midphase @ Mon Dec 20 said:


> The only thing that I don't like about Poseur's posts is that I wish they were written in iambic pentameter and that every other line rhymed.



I like the chorus:



> it doesn't bother me;
> it doesn't excite me;
> it doesn't get-my-goat, at all.



Needed a reprise though at the end. 8)


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## poseur (Dec 20, 2010)

midphase @ Mon Dec 20 said:


> The only thing that I don't like about Poseur's posts is that I wish they were written in iambic pentameter and that every other line rhymed.


i might do that, well....
shld i really? maybe so,
but, my life in hell
makes the easy, complex, yo.....

dt


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## EnTaroAdun (Dec 20, 2010)

Ed @ 2010-12-20 said:


> Maybe if you're a hardcore "fundamentalist composer" this is how you think.


I'm not.
I just honestly think, the score is not very exciting and rather one-dimensional.



Ed @ 2010-12-20 said:


> Do you think Inception is good?


Jup.
It has a lot more diversity and deepness to it than the TRON score.
And the orchestration and arrangements are also better than of the TRON score. There's a lot more work in the production I guess.


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## mducharme (Dec 20, 2010)

I saw Tron Legacy last night..

I thought the movie was good, but perhaps a little overly long - that was the same problem that plagued the original, including scenes only because they had neat looking SFX while it contributed nothing to the story. They could have removed/cut down on some scenes and it would have been a better movie.

The music I thought really didn't work with picture. The theme (not that it really needed one) was boring and sounded like something I would toss away as an idea because it's too sequential. The electronic stuff was OK, but it really seemed all over the map. It was when they tried getting sentimental and emotional that the music became really predictable - suddenly going from mostly electronics to solo strings for those "flashbacks" really didn't seem to fit. It was obvious they were trying to borrow from Adagio for Strings by Barber, wanting to imitate a sort of "Schindler's list" sound for the extermination of that intelligent electronic race. To me, it made it unintentionally funny, because you were just introduced to that race of electronic life forms you do not really feel any emotional connection when they are slaughtered, having those sudden solo strings playing sad stuff does not really work by itself. The emotional scenes had the electronic equivalents of "piano and strings", where you have piano-like arpeggios with sustained pad chords. It is such a cliche technique, I was surprised to hear it in the film.

When they were not trying to pull an emotional card, and when they were not stating that rather boring theme, the music worked sufficiently well with picture. It cannot stand up in comparison with Wendy Carlos' score though.


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## mjc (Dec 20, 2010)

Saw Tron last night also.

Enjoyed the movie.

Enjoyed the score.

:mrgreen:


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## Ed (Dec 20, 2010)

mducharme @ Mon Dec 20 said:


> When they were not trying to pull an emotional card, and when they were not stating that rather boring theme, the music worked sufficiently well with picture. It cannot stand up in comparison with *Wendy Carlos' score thoug*h.



Well I didn't like that score so that bodes well that your review doesn't reflect my tastes when I see the film myself.


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## Ed (Dec 20, 2010)

EnTaroAdun @ Mon Dec 20 said:


> Ed @ 2010-12-20 said:
> 
> 
> > Maybe if you're a hardcore "fundamentalist composer" this is how you think.
> ...



See, I totally I respect that view. But its when you or others start saying things like "_like the work of a 15 year old, doing his firsts steps with his EWQLSO_" that I start rolling my eyes.


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## David Story (Dec 31, 2010)

I really like Tron Legacy: the cinematography, production design, sound design, vfx and music are fun and creative. I saw it with an audience of families, the film entertained young and old alike. The kids were excited by the characters and action. Good to see Bruce Boxleitner too, Bridges is a master.

Agree with Ned, it's a good an integration of synth and orch. That may be thanks to Alan Meyerson.
I felt that Joseph was the guy writing much of the music, and he made those 16th textures his own. Same for the trombone blasts, a bit more of a theme here. There's a sense of playing with convention, giving a thematic and orchestrational twist that's fresh to me. Jason found songs that helped the picture too. 

Here's just orchestra:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N7sQ4eWv ... re=related

Light entertainment, with a few sophisticated elements. In a theater, the sound is stunning techno. Just like the visuals.

Only one man knows what Tonehammer is used. Troels, please!


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## DKeenum (Jan 1, 2011)

Ned Bouhalassa @ Mon Dec 20 said:


> As for Daft Punk's input, I believe them when they say that they worked with the orchestra for a year, probably very closely with Trapanes, whistling, humming or playing ideas on synths, which he orchestrated/arranged. This is nothing new in Hollywood, is it?


My son loves the film and the soundtrack, so I've been listening to it as I've read the thread. To me it sounds like orchestrated electronic music. Marketing wise, I think it was a stroke of genius! Music wise... it's fine.

And I think Trapanes did a admirable job within the confines of working with Daft Punk. I'm guessing it wasn't a lot of fun to play, but I think it works in context of the film.


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## adg21 (Jan 1, 2011)

DKeenum @ Sat Jan 01 said:


> Marketing wise, I think it was a stroke of genius!


For the film yes, but for Daft Punk I'm not so sure, a lot of reviewers/fans hated it.


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## Lex (Jan 31, 2011)

Finally saw this too...loved the score, and the mix was freakin amazing!

alex


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## charlieclouser (Feb 16, 2011)

Meh. I thought it was amateur garbage and didn't match the picture at all. I thought by now they'd have figured out how to do a sequence with more than 16 steps.

Definitely had that "laptop jockey's first score" sound. Supposedly they worked on it for almost a year!

Then again, I found the movie so cringe-worthy that my judgement could have been clouded. Even though I've seen the original many times and know the characters and story well, I couldn't tell Clu from Tron from... oh, who cares anyway. Awful movie.

My wife couldn't take it and wandered into another theater at the octo-plex to watch the back half of something else, but I stuck it out to the bitter end. It took a second helping of popcorn and Coke Icee for me to make it through!

Best score of 2010? I have to say I think District 9 and The International both had wonderful scores that actually sounded like they were composed against picture, as opposed to the overly bit-crushed 1-bar loops and disco kicks I heard in Tron. 

Was I the only person who saw The International?


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