7 ms·

Ask HN: What do you listen to while you code?

14 points by boffinism 6y ago

<self-promotion>I finished up making https://whyarentyoucoding.com/audio.html</self-promotion> and it made me curious about other people's habits.

startupfreak 6y ago
Silence. As much silence as possible. I want to drown in it.
prambunctious 6y ago
@IAmDevloper has a great album of lofi.
deleted 6y ago
[deleted]
ArtWomb 6y ago
Listening to the same "meditative" album over and over again (such as Kraftwerk's Autobahn) can induce a Pavlovian effect of entering flow states easily ;)
- dnh44 6y ago
  I do the same thing and it was life changing for me when I discovered this. I just have to remain mindful of making sure to stop the music when I choose to take a break/procrastinate.
krapp 6y ago
The "lofi hiphop radio - beats to relax and study to" channel on youtube[0]. Normally I have the attention span of a magpie (which is why I have HN open all the time) but it really helps me focus. [0]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5qap5aO4i9A https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5qap5aO4i9A
pestatije 6y ago
I try to listen to my thoughts, any outside interference is not good.
nuker 6y ago
Keyboard clicks
- Graffur 6y ago
  I would actually enjoy hearing keyboard clicks come through my headphones while I listen to music. I wonder if there's something that can make that possible.
  - nuker 6y ago
    yea, write it, in Swift because for MacOS (I have MacOS). Should be simple thing.
    - Graffur 6y ago
      Each key hits a different part of the keyboard's plastic under-plate, resulting in a slightly different sound. I wonder where you could source the sounds..
mindcrime 6y ago
It varies a lot. For many years I mostly listened to heavy metal or hip-hop while coding. I've also always listened to classical music instead, at times. But more and more over the last couple of years I've drifted to listening to synthwave / darkwave / retrowave type stuff when coding. It's still a mix of "all of the above" but the ratio has gradually skewed more and more in favor of the synthwave stuff. Every once in a while I'll opt for something completely different like one of those "coffee shop sounds" tracks or something.
souprock 6y ago
power supply fan, case fan, cpu fan, gpu fan, etc.
yesenadam 6y ago
Nothing. Seems a strange question, like What do you read while you sleep. This Q was last asked 13 days ago https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=26117993 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=26117993
- Graffur 6y ago
  It is relevant for me. I am WFH but there can be noisy children outside my window. Unfortunately I can't really get away from it but I so own a pair of noise cancelling earphones. Those with some music makes the problem go away. So I am always interested in what people listen to while they work.
cmdshiftf4 6y ago
Myself questioning the decisions I've made in life.
Mockapapella 6y ago
I enjoy Infected Mushroom and other EDM songs. I find the repetitive nature of the songs to help with focus.
mikeodds 6y ago
https://musicforprogramming.net/ https://musicforprogramming.net/
twhiterabbit 6y ago
Music, podcasts
punchclockhero 6y ago
For thought-heavy work: Data center sounds from mynoise.net For rote work: hard techno, schranz or happy hardcore
decafninja 6y ago
These days, those "lofi" tracks that seem popular.
theflyinghorse 6y ago
Emancipator (manages to put me in the state of focus more than any other artist), Shpongle, video game music. I guess the important part is that the music shouldn't have too much focus on drums. On rare occasions ambient stuff like a cafe or rainy forest sounds
nocobot 6y ago
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wM3pgStuj54&t=336s https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wM3pgStuj54&t=336s posh isolation (and associated artists) are releasing some really nice ambient
BlameKaneda 6y ago
Depends on what I'm doing. 1. "Mundane work" - Anything, with or without lyrics. I'm a huge fan of funk, Motown, classic rock, city pop, and more. 2. "Some concentration" - Opera or instrumental music. The oud is one of my favorite instruments and I have a playlist devoted to Middle Eastern music that has lots of oud-focused songs. 3. "More concentration" - Ambient music and atmospheric sounds. For instance, there's an hour-long YT video of the ambient noises from Thief: The Dark Project that I can put on, as well as a few others from other games. 4. "Full concentration" - Silence.
imadethistoo 6y ago
anything that keeps the tinnitus away
vram22 6y ago
This is one: Music video: Sitar - Vilayat khan - Rarely Heard Ragas: https://jugad2.blogspot.com/2013/10/music-video-sitar-vilayat-khan-rarely.html?m=0 https://jugad2.blogspot.com/2013/10/music-video-sitar-vilaya...
quickthrower2 6y ago
Queen / Kaiser Chief / Pink Floyd / REM / other “soft rock” Although Clubhouse rambling is good too
vinhnx 6y ago
I used to listen to ambient music, eg: Brian Eno mashup on Spotify. Now I mostly to listen to podcast while coding.
nexus2045 6y ago
I use "alexa play coffee beats". Puts me in a bit of a trance. Lofi tends to feel too melancholic Static white noise / nature sounds is too monotonous Regular pop music has lyrics and jams my thinking ability Classical is pretty decent too
joshxyz 6y ago
Silence, otherwise somr lofi hip hop beats go study / relax to.
evanfarrar 6y ago
I listen to the playlists for the podcast "Flow State". https://anchor.fm/flow-state https://anchor.fm/flow-state

14 points by boffinism 6y ago

<self-promotion>I finished up making https://whyarentyoucoding.com/audio.html</self-promotion> and it made me curious about other people's habits.

startupfreak 6y ago

Silence. As much silence as possible. I want to drown in it.

prambunctious 6y ago

@IAmDevloper has a great album of lofi.

deleted 6y ago

[deleted]

ArtWomb 6y ago

Listening to the same "meditative" album over and over again (such as Kraftwerk's Autobahn) can induce a Pavlovian effect of entering flow states easily ;)

dnh44 6y ago
I do the same thing and it was life changing for me when I discovered this. I just have to remain mindful of making sure to stop the music when I choose to take a break/procrastinate.

krapp 6y ago

The "lofi hiphop radio - beats to relax and study to" channel on youtube[0]. Normally I have the attention span of a magpie (which is why I have HN open all the time) but it really helps me focus. [0]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5qap5aO4i9A https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5qap5aO4i9A

pestatije 6y ago

I try to listen to my thoughts, any outside interference is not good.

nuker 6y ago

Keyboard clicks

Graffur 6y ago
I would actually enjoy hearing keyboard clicks come through my headphones while I listen to music. I wonder if there's something that can make that possible.
- nuker 6y ago
  yea, write it, in Swift because for MacOS (I have MacOS). Should be simple thing.
  - Graffur 6y ago
    Each key hits a different part of the keyboard's plastic under-plate, resulting in a slightly different sound. I wonder where you could source the sounds..

mindcrime 6y ago

It varies a lot. For many years I mostly listened to heavy metal or hip-hop while coding. I've also always listened to classical music instead, at times. But more and more over the last couple of years I've drifted to listening to synthwave / darkwave / retrowave type stuff when coding. It's still a mix of "all of the above" but the ratio has gradually skewed more and more in favor of the synthwave stuff. Every once in a while I'll opt for something completely different like one of those "coffee shop sounds" tracks or something.

souprock 6y ago

power supply fan, case fan, cpu fan, gpu fan, etc.

yesenadam 6y ago

Nothing. Seems a strange question, like What do you read while you sleep. This Q was last asked 13 days ago https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=26117993 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=26117993

Graffur 6y ago
It is relevant for me. I am WFH but there can be noisy children outside my window. Unfortunately I can't really get away from it but I so own a pair of noise cancelling earphones. Those with some music makes the problem go away. So I am always interested in what people listen to while they work.

cmdshiftf4 6y ago

Myself questioning the decisions I've made in life.

Mockapapella 6y ago

I enjoy Infected Mushroom and other EDM songs. I find the repetitive nature of the songs to help with focus.

mikeodds 6y ago

https://musicforprogramming.net/ https://musicforprogramming.net/

twhiterabbit 6y ago

Music, podcasts

punchclockhero 6y ago

For thought-heavy work: Data center sounds from mynoise.net For rote work: hard techno, schranz or happy hardcore

decafninja 6y ago

These days, those "lofi" tracks that seem popular.

theflyinghorse 6y ago

Emancipator (manages to put me in the state of focus more than any other artist), Shpongle, video game music. I guess the important part is that the music shouldn't have too much focus on drums. On rare occasions ambient stuff like a cafe or rainy forest sounds

nocobot 6y ago

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wM3pgStuj54&t=336s https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wM3pgStuj54&t=336s posh isolation (and associated artists) are releasing some really nice ambient

BlameKaneda 6y ago

Depends on what I'm doing. 1. "Mundane work" - Anything, with or without lyrics. I'm a huge fan of funk, Motown, classic rock, city pop, and more. 2. "Some concentration" - Opera or instrumental music. The oud is one of my favorite instruments and I have a playlist devoted to Middle Eastern music that has lots of oud-focused songs. 3. "More concentration" - Ambient music and atmospheric sounds. For instance, there's an hour-long YT video of the ambient noises from Thief: The Dark Project that I can put on, as well as a few others from other games. 4. "Full concentration" - Silence.

imadethistoo 6y ago

anything that keeps the tinnitus away

vram22 6y ago

This is one: Music video: Sitar - Vilayat khan - Rarely Heard Ragas: https://jugad2.blogspot.com/2013/10/music-video-sitar-vilayat-khan-rarely.html?m=0 https://jugad2.blogspot.com/2013/10/music-video-sitar-vilaya...

quickthrower2 6y ago

Queen / Kaiser Chief / Pink Floyd / REM / other “soft rock” Although Clubhouse rambling is good too

vinhnx 6y ago

I used to listen to ambient music, eg: Brian Eno mashup on Spotify. Now I mostly to listen to podcast while coding.

nexus2045 6y ago

I use "alexa play coffee beats". Puts me in a bit of a trance. Lofi tends to feel too melancholic Static white noise / nature sounds is too monotonous Regular pop music has lyrics and jams my thinking ability Classical is pretty decent too

joshxyz 6y ago

Silence, otherwise somr lofi hip hop beats go study / relax to.

evanfarrar 6y ago

I listen to the playlists for the podcast "Flow State". https://anchor.fm/flow-state https://anchor.fm/flow-state