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[openwater]

Hey everyone,

I'm curious to hear what types of music you listen to while you're in "the zone". Classical music? Heavy metal? Techno?

If it's out there, feel free to post a link to your favorites - I bet other developers could use some fresh music in their arsenal, too.

I'll throw down a couple of my favorites, too -

• Can't be in a bad mood listening to some upbeat Ratatat:
  
  
• This one's a bit fringe... but the Ephixa zelda dubstep beat has a special place in my heart:
  
  
• One last all-time coding classic: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dQw4w9WgXcQ

[oahda]

vidya gam ost

[muki]

Something instrumental, no words. Or else my monkey brain can't handle it. I have trouble coding in the best of conditions in the first place, no need to make it harder.  

Classical/contemporary classical, ambient, drone, instrumental rock..









Weird, forum only embedds the first two videos...

two more

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dvqRUcQyQx0

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4vRrGCVlMHk

[openwater]

vidya gam ost

Google that and found this YouTube playlist - very cool! https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLGImv-6QE54NvJFrkbEopj_o0ISlACDwF

Something instrumental, no words. Or else my monkey brain can't handle it. I have trouble coding in the best of conditions in the first place, no need to make it harder. 

I couldn't agree more - lyrics generally distract me. The videos you linked are awesome - already have them playing in the background while I work, thanks for the great finds!

[oahda]

vidya gam ost

Google that and found this YouTube playlist - very cool! https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLGImv-6QE54NvJFrkbEopj_o0ISlACDwF

Haha. I generally prefix "relaxing" in my searches and pick one of those themed mixes that can be everything from half an hour to several hours long to make sure there isn't something jarring in there that knocks me out of the zone (or gives me an headache). Here's an acoustic one.

[ferreiradaselva]

I generally don't listen to anything, but if I do, it must be something very VERY chill. Like William Ackerman, or some ambient music. The problem is that music, even the very calm ones, are distracting. The same problem of distraction happens while doing art. It's even advised by some masters (of painting) to not listen to music while painting, as they realized that they can get much more work done when focusing completely on the work. Of course... everyone should do what they feel good about.

[oahda]

Sometimes I can't function at all without multitasking. I might need not just music, but a video, in the background to get through something boring that doesn't require much of a second thought anyway. But if I really need to think I might even turn the music off (tho usually it helps).

[openwater]

It's even advised by some masters (of painting) to not listen to music while painting, as they realized that they can get much more work done when focusing completely on the work.

Wow I had no idea... but that does make sense. Might be worth a shot. I suppose you have to weigh the increased focus against whether the music makes practice / work more enjoyable for you.

[InfiniteStateMachine]

I work in an open office but I come in very early so I can focus.

So from 6am - 930am I have no music.

After that everyone starts arriving and there's chatter everywhere. At that point I do the following

if (mindful task such as implementing a design or algorithm)
{
 calm ambient music, preferably with no vocals
}
else if (mindless repetitive coding task, maybe xml serialization or implementing something I've done many times)
{
 faster club music. Potentially French techno, I love french tecnho.
}

[Clipper]

I just listen to whatever I listen to everywhere else; in other words, whatever I feel like ATM.

At the moment, it's mostly Autechre or Radiohead, but that's not all.

[InfiniteStateMachine]

Authechre. I love them so much. I think Rae might be one of my favorite songs of all time. The 3 songs I find that meet that crazy next level of destructive precussion that is so destructive it becomes harmonious (think a unsigned integer underflow ) would be Aphex twin girlboy song and Wisp's Hexenridge (the latter being the most immediately coherent version).

So glad to see another autechre fan here


any chance your username clipper has anything to do with a certain song?

[JWki]

Depends for me - sometimes I will just throw some deadmau5 on, but often I actually listen to stuff with vocals.

Interestingly enough, at work I tend to go for Emmure quite often.

[buto]

I always listen to the same albums. Radiohead (mostly Amnesiac (without track 3...), often Kid-A, and Hail to the Thief). Sometimes I'm in the mood for Pixies (Bossanova and Trompe le Monde). I listened to those albums so often that they rarely distract me. Typically I listen to them when my concentration lowers and I have to focus once more on a specific task.

[Raptor85]

I actually have an unlisted playlist i keep on my youtube channel that i turn on when writing code, it changes from time to time but most of the core stays the same.

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLC802EFB99D62BA31

this one here is in general my favorite in my playlist

[Squire Grooktook]

I have a work playlist of various video game soundtracks (and a few other assorted materials, mostly instrumentals). The playlist has about 1810 tracks of my choosing. I usually put it on automatic shuffle while I work.

[muki]

bump

[Reyn]

bump

Holy crap I liked that a LOT.

[oahda]

If this is just going to turn into a general music thread now, maybe it should be moved to general.

[ALourenco]

Well it really depends a lot on the mood, but I usually hear some movies/games OSTs or Parov Stelar. Other times I hear some Portuguese guitar instrumentals.

[FreeFly]

Damn it, you almost made me cry, you got me straight in the heart with this one. Good old Ultima times, I miss that game more than I miss all my ex girlfriends combined. I even made a guitar version of this theme years ago...

Going back to the topic, there are two types of music I usually listen to, folk and metal. When I'm in a good mood and I feel like I can concentrate well enough metal can help me write more code without distracting me too much. I usually go from Sabaton to Machinae Supremacy:





Instead, when I'm not in a great mood, or I have some problems fixing a bug, I'd rather listen to some classic folk music, especially Irish and American folk, both instrumental and with lyrics:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yiOWd7ArmWQ