6 ms·
Ask HN: Best Music Background to Work?
What's your favourite music when you code,design or work in general?
- stagas 7y agoKetapop, chillrave[0] - I find they have the right amount of ambience and novelty to not be too boring to make you drowsy or too interesting to be distracting so they can peacefully sit in the background all day long giving you a bit of rhythm but also letting you focus. [0]: https://soundcloud.com/gina-sabatini/kitti-mimizan-b2b-gina-sabatini-love-meier-11012019 https://soundcloud.com/gina-sabatini/kitti-mimizan-b2b-gina-...
- rzzzwilson 7y agoIt doesn't really matter. Once you are concentrating and "in the flow" you don't hear it.
- muzani 7y agoI think the question is more, "What do you not hear? What puts you in the flow fastest?" My roommate used to play Jack Johnston, The White Stripes, and Muse, and these felt terrible for my concentration.
- brandfilt 7y agoMy absolute favourites are Abul Mogard's Works album and most albums by Alessandro Cortini. If I want something more high energy, I just find a techno or psytrance playlist from Spotify without paying much attention to which artist is playing.
- stevekemp 7y agoI suspect this is a deeply personal question, like asking people "C++ coders what fiction do you read at home?" Regardless I'm currently listening to Rammstein, I often listen to Queen, Depeche Mode, and soundracks from films such as LotR, 300, Blade, Resident Evil. I've spent a lot of time listening to the soundtracks to the various Fast&Furious films over the last month. Maybe next month I'll have more classical-music.
- deleted 7y ago[deleted]
- yesenadam 7y agoSilence. (I've been a musician and programmed all my life too, but never have music playing when concentration is needed, i.e. when programming. When music is on, I concentrate on the music! It seems so weird to me that people would attempt some complex programming task with music playing! Hmm and mostly when I do want music these days it comes out of me: I imagine/remember it–hear my favourite stuff in my head, or imagine playing it, or tap rhythms, or play an instrument..)
- hydrox24 7y agoI've found this to be the right thing to do for several reasons. 1. Music does not improve my concentration in the long term. It will help for a few hours and then make it harder to focus after that. 2. Headphones make me less approachable at work, and I want to contribute to a positive team culture by being easy to chat to. If I need to buckle down I will work from home. 3. Headphones make it much more tempting to watch youtube, or listen to podcasts in the background. Without headphones I find it much easier to keep myself on track. 4. Most importantly, silence at work makes me appreciate music a whole lot more when I do listen to it, because it is no longer simply background noise, it feels worthy of attention. On top of that, I am more capable of listening to more demanding and more rewarding music.
- zzo38computer 7y agoI usually have no music.
- notadoctor_ssh 7y agoI usually have the Lo-fi beats playlist[1] on Spotify playing. [1] https://open.spotify.com/playlist/37i9dQZF1DWWQRwui0ExPn?si=4ogiJDYBR8y_VdGrmx1e4w https://open.spotify.com/playlist/37i9dQZF1DWWQRwui0ExPn?si=...
- AwesomeFaic 7y agoSeconding this, Spotify at work is blocked and lots of active YouTube activity would look bad, so I fire up the beloved YouTube 24hr lo-fi beat stream and let it run all day pretty much
- santa_boy 7y agoYes ... I'm actually flexible with music but quite often use the "Focus" genre on Spotify for work that requires more thought. I like the "Deep Focus" Playlist too (https://open.spotify.com/playlist/37i9dQZF1DWZeKCadgRdKQ?si=-BbLZUF6SHKHE2tr42ZiQA https://open.spotify.com/playlist/37i9dQZF1DWZeKCadgRdKQ?si=...)
- eti 7y agosome ambient music, usually whatever comes up on spotify. i do like listening to my soundcloud stream whenever i get the chance, but that tends to have less focus-friendly tracks.
- sloaken 7y agoI vary between Classical, usually when designing, to something upbeat when coding.
- throw_this_one 7y agoBasic Channel, Maurizio, Quadrant
- trumbitta2 7y agoKimbra - Vows and Marina and the Diamonds - Family Jewels
- dublin 7y agoUsually classical, jazz, or Celtic/ambient. Words are only allowed when I'm doing something mindless and rote - anything that requires real thinking, especially writing, will have the lyrics take the quality down a couple of notches - not a lot, but enough to be noticeable. The only exception is pure non-verbal creative work (CAD, graphic design, etc.) where relaxation is key - there, Jimmy Buffett, or old country or pop music can be quite useful.
- kleer001 7y agoNothing with words or I get really distracted. Well, unless I really know the music, but even then it's a bit distracting.
- wirddin 7y agoI sometimes listen to tracks from musicForProgramming[0] website, and I usually download the ones which I like and then play them off the offline music player. Other than that, I have some Spotify playlists saved (not from me, some links I found on Twitter and other sites) [1,2] [0] https://musicforprogramming.net https://musicforprogramming.net [1] https://open.spotify.com/playlist/6dlwJYNRdkTfZMALZclyIx?si=XUhjP1S1T5aphW-qtolZfA https://open.spotify.com/playlist/6dlwJYNRdkTfZMALZclyIx?si=... [2] https://open.spotify.com/playlist/2u5h5ZloqSXRuDMTrRincp?si=2U7xFZlqTMOre_hlRWpjYQ https://open.spotify.com/playlist/2u5h5ZloqSXRuDMTrRincp?si=...
- karmakaze 7y agoForeign rock/pop
- odomojuli 7y agoSimilar discussion here: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=19579216 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=19579216
- muzani 7y agoWhen trying to get into flow, I prefer fast paced music, with a lot of rapid beats. Metal is a natural pick, but even things like K-Pop works. When in flow, I want things that maintain the same beat. I'll often play the same song in loop. Lately I've been looping Dance Monkey/Toss a Coin to Your Witcher for hours. Basically it's the songs that go 1234 1234 1234 123 123 123 1234 1234 1234.
- machtesh 7y agoThe soundtrack from The Social Network
- kwiromeo 7y agoI am a big fan of N'to and the sets from artist from the label Hungry Music. I believe the genre is deep house. This set is my go to at work [Link] https://m.soundcloud.com/zubkow-ilya/nto-live-tour-saint-jacques-for-cercle https://m.soundcloud.com/zubkow-ilya/nto-live-tour-saint-jac...
- goseo2019 7y agoI love hear felix music https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1RUzfOff5q0&list=PLDsQg9WjiOwt6HbI7dhp_Thjh454fda4H https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1RUzfOff5q0&list=PLDsQg9WjiO...