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[RedKnight]

What do you listen while you code?

for now..

[InfiniteStateMachine]

Generally music without lyrics.

[Muz]

Local business radio station while I'm coding easy stuff. It plays nice 80s rock too!

Otherwise I just go through

.

[LaughingLeader]

Generally music without lyrics.

Same here. I have a hard time focusing if the music has lyrics.

Normally, when I'm just listening to music (and not coding), I don't really enjoy stuff that's repetitive. Yet, for whatever reason, when I'm coding that kind of music seems to work best. Music that can be subtle, or have some sort of beat that's more "felt" than heard.

Naturally, many video game OSTs fit into that mold really well, so I like listening to them the most.

[baconman]

Gaming OSTs. Gets me in that "this is a GAME" frame of mind. Lately it's been The Binding Of Issac and Catherine soundtracks, but you can't go wrong with a good fighter OST (like Killer Instinct, Tekken 3/5, Street Fighter Alpha 3, KoF '99/XI).

It all depends on what you're going for.

[eddietree]

musicForProgramming();

[Gregg Williams]

Original CaveStory OST at this exact moment, though I hear Turrican calling me.

[Xecutor]

Mostly Dark Electro/EBM/Electro Industrial. Sometimes NDH.
My latest finding: Terrifying - The Next Level.

[JigxorAndy]

Generally music without lyrics.

Same here, like LaughingLeader, I do like repetitive music while working. I find upbeat but "mind numbing" electronic stuff helps me get into a flow-like state. Anything with too many vocals just makes me think about the words too much and breaks that.

edit: misread LaughingLeader

[Klaim]

I listen mostly to music without lyrics too, with exceptions when the lyrics are really just another instrument.

But to be more specific, I often listen to progressive stuffs.

These last 3 months I've listened these, most of the time in loop for several days:

MAGMA:

(magma is awesome. Look at the incredibly insane guitarist at http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=61cIieQOdac#t=1553s (there was an awesome bass before, then the guitar comes and gets crazy)
(really listen it from begin to end)

OCEANSIZE: not everything, but mostly
 -

< I love this one, can hear it in loop for hours
 - the 3 songs at the beginning of Frames album (I think they are voluntarly like one big song)

Pink Floyd: this concert http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h_csfX_OEGA

King Crimson: this album http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ukPHfwXdS2s


I also kind of like to listen to very electro songs of Perfume, and some unknown stuffs too.

[LaughingLeader]

Same here, except unlike LaughingLeader, I do like repetitive music. I find upbeat but "mind numbing" electronic stuff helps me get into a flow-like state. Anything with too many vocals just makes me think about the words too much and breaks that.

Oh, you must have misread me (or I didn't clarify). I said I normally don't like repetitive stuff, but for coding it's perfect (meaning I do like repetitive music for coding, as opposed to what I like when listening to music normally).

[emacs]

Progressive metal, like Tool and Isis, usually.

[nikki]

silence preferably, usually the neighbours dog though....

[rivon]

DnB/Jungle, Trance, House, Techno, Psytrance...

[impulse9]

The PC fan, most of the time. It gets annoying but what can I do.

I find music generally distracts me from whatever I'm doing.

[rhys_vdw]

I find I'm most productive when I listen to electronica. Usually minimal tech or psytrance - stuff that just drives. My absolute favourite for coding (and just in general) is

.

[Muz]

Lol, I find most of the 'calming' stuff recommended here very distracting. I'm used to listening to heavy metal, trance/etc is far too calm/slow for me, and thus distracting.

It's hard to describe. Something like when you're used to walking fast, and the guy you're walking with goes at half your pace. It becomes an active effort to go slower.

I started programming listening to Metallica, Linkin Park, Nirvana. Back in the days when you had a radio and maybe 10 MP3s and looped the same song over and over for weeks. I find that I get really into it listening to that kind of music or similar genres.

[Richard Kain]

I will occasionally listen to instrumental music while coding. But more often than not, I will switch off audio distractions while trying to program. While I am able to work on game art while listening to music, I find it very difficult to solve problems while listening to words. I am not a multi-tasker, and I can't concentrate on words while writing words.

[enthrallstudios]

Anything from OCremix.

[Klaim]

I have to add that I listen to music while coding only when I passed the design phase and I just need to write the code, like a code dump, not while designing the solution I'm trying to express, or not while trying to figure out how to express it efficiently in the language I'm using.

As soon as I need to really think, I need silence.