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Poll: Music while coding: Yes/No and What Kind?
Music can be inspiring, motivating, and push buttons in different centers of the brain. - - What music do you listen to while coding? Or do you find music to be a distraction?
- fein 13y agoIt all depends on mood. Some days I rock out to Porter Robinson, Shreddie Mercury, Bassnectar, etc. Other days its a crazy spread of Sigur Ros, Porcupine Tree, Animals as Leaders, and Mars Volta. Some days I just need silence. I know thats a lot of name dropping, but it hopefully shows the overall spread that qualifies my least favorite statement: "It Depends"
- ctb_mg 13y agoAgreed here, my preferences mirror this mostly. If I need to zone everything else out and focus in to get things done, I'll put on isolating headphones and music depending on mood. If I'm doing more contemplative work and the surroundings are quiet, I'll go without.
- lmm 13y agoI'll only listen to music if I need to block out noise - it's about minimizing distraction. I need something relatively predictable - simple, somewhat repetitive; if there are lyrics they need to be able to wash over me rather than hooking my attention. Usually that means either classical or pop. Lately I've listened to Angels & Airwaves a fair bit - fairly simple melodies, electronically pure, and while there's emotion there it's gentle and chilled enough to keep me relaxed.
- PavlovsCat 13y agoNot always, but when doing routine and/or boring things that just need to be done: http://i.imgur.com/BEglNuP.gif http://i.imgur.com/BEglNuP.gif As to what kind of music, some tunes by Calyx & Teebee or Ed Rush & Optical seem to do the trick for me, and other music "in that style"... hard for me to answer precisely without spamming youtube links, since I like individual songs, never artists or genres as a whole. Well, except just about anything by Skeewiff that doesn't have lyrics, which is an entirely different mood, but works great for pretending I'm an Austin Powers style secret agent :D When trying to solve a problem that's new to me, I usually do best in silence, and if that fails I need a shower or a walk. So yes, for me music (or movies, radio, anything really) is a distraction, but sometimes I find that distraction from "chores" while doing them very helpful indeed. I'm not a great and never a groundbreaking coder, so such chores seem to make up the majority of my coding time.
- czbond 13y agoState Of Trance, SNS Mix, or the Black Keys.
- inspirev 13y agoIt depends on my mood and the time of day. During the day I generally listen to country. In the evening I switch to classical music and for late late nights - hard rock/metal. Sometimes during the day I'll put my headphones on just to drain out excess noise - even though I'm not listening to anything.
- atox 13y agoWhen working in a quiet environment I prefer not to listen to any music. When working in an open floor office (which I hate when coding) then I fall back to white noise or ambient music in combination with a good noise cancelling headphone.
- michaelcolenso 13y agoPlastikman.
- elwell 13y agoJazz is my favorite programming music. In particular, Christmas Jazz (vince guaraldi trio, and some brad mehldau -style songs: pandora station: http://www.pandora.com/station/159969656237355797 http://www.pandora.com/station/159969656237355797)
- tylermac1 13y agoMehldau is one of my more common choices. As a guitarist, I also lean towards Wes Montgomery, Kenny Burrell, and Joe Pass from time to time. Otherwise it's more groove heavy DJs like Flying Lotus, Four Tet, Caribou, etc.
- Randgalt 13y agoOpera mostly, jazz standards or Progressive rock
- Randgalt 13y agoBTW - here's my most excellent Prog Rock Spotify list: http://open.spotify.com/user/randgalt/playlist/3plvNgEo53WDztDCohQtr4 http://open.spotify.com/user/randgalt/playlist/3plvNgEo53WDz...
- mathewsimonton 13y agoAt the SEO agency I work at we've been playing classical music on Pandora for the past few days and everyone is liking it. It's a pleasant change of pace from the alternative pop/rock we usually play.
- frigg 13y agoI never listen to music while doing anything that required mental focus and/or which involves learning. I did listen to music when doing less demanding things like making a (simple) website.
- rustyf 13y agoDrum and bass when things are going well. Trance is also great. Nothing when it's going shit ;)
- gremlinsinc 13y agoTo answer my own question: Somedays I do somedays I don't and type really depends on attitude -- somedays I might listen to the Les Mis soundtrack, or Lord of the Rings, or Titanic -- other days Scorpions / Kansas / Rush / Yes, other days Beautiful South / Smith's / Morrissey -- I haven't really quantified though whether I'm more focused while listening to music, or while not listening to anything...
- lorax108 13y agoI like piano classical type music.. or dubstep... depends on mood...
- mumbi 13y agoAlways. Dub-step, rock, jam bands, or jazz.
- diorray 13y agoIf i have to work on algorithms; nothing, If it requires mental focus; Ratatat, Amon Tobin otherwise; Steve Vai, Dio, Pink Floyd, XYZ, Led Zeppelin, Mezarkabul, Bulutsuzluk Ozlemi, Baris Manco, Erkin Koray, Cem Karaca etc.
- dzink 13y agoChill music with some dissonance and resolution but no or non-distracting lyrics. The dissonance somehow gets my brain to think on a deeper level and the chill/sad sounds keep me focused and calm so I can keep my ars down on the chair for 16 hours at a time. Lately: - Oblivion credits song - Massive Attack - Teardrop - Royksopp - What else is there? My biggest pitfall I have when coding is that I get into victory-dance mode when I get something new working and it distracts me to the point where I get less done. By running a slightly sad music library I can stay grounded in good times and intrigued in bad.
- pieterhg 13y agoDrum & Bass is my main love, so I listen to my YouTube channel: http://youtube.com/pandadnb http://youtube.com/pandadnb But I've getting back into grime, garage and acid house lately through Rinse FM: http://rinse.fm/player http://rinse.fm/player
- redrory 13y agoClassical only for me focusatwill.com/music/#player
- apolwla 13y agodub. (classic dub) but Richard Williams in The Animator's Survival Kit draws a good argument against listening to music while working. http://www.conceptart.org/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=823011&d=1257584289 http://www.conceptart.org/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid...
- alanclimer 13y agoYes but not always. Anything in the Buddha Bar collection, ambient, lounge, world, new age, trance, chill & space. Sometimes the blues & rock. Lyrics at times can distract but any good music beats noise when coding among chaos. Headphones are a must.
- centdev 13y agoFor some reason I cannot work in silence especially when writing code. I tend to listen to rock, rap, drum and bass, dub step. Anything loud. Headphones on. Anything with a high bpm tends to help me.
- RogerL 13y agoI don't listen often; when I do it is usually jazz or classical. For jazz usually cool jazz as opposed to hard bop or free jazz (great to listen to, impossible to concentrate). For classical pretty much baroque or chamber music (especially classical guitar). Occasionally something like Reggae if I just want to bounce around on my seat while doing something relatively brainless. But mostly I prefer silence.
- himanshuy 13y agoDepends. Music helps me to focus or block outside focus. My favorite is Hans Zimmer station on Pandora.