7 ms·
Ask HN: What music do you listen to when hacking?
- a3n 13y agoI love silence. https://www.hnsearch.com/search#request/all&q=music+hacking&start=0 https://www.hnsearch.com/search#request/all&q=music+hacking&...
- NAFV_P 13y agoSilence is one of my favourite bands.
- karolisd 13y agoAutechre is hacker music.
- NAFV_P 13y agoLowride off Incunabula, first heard it off Mo'Wax Headz. Them two look like hackers to me. I recently found out they've been around since '87 (according to Discogs).
- alexhawdon 13y agoYeah, they code up their own 'instruments' in Max/MSP and some of their music is algorithmically generated. Of particular note is 'Flutter', a track where no two bars are the same, which was produced in response to the UK Government passing an 'anti-rave' law which attempted to classify dance/electronic music as 'repetitive beat music'. Party organisers were encouraged to have a copy of Flutter, a musicologist and a solicitor on hand in the event of the police trying to enforce these crazy laws. Fun times!
- acomjean 13y agoit varies, but usually works best with music I'm already familiar with today is was 1) the Fretless (irish classical hybrid) 2) Foo Fighters 3) Eve 6 sometimes I'll stream wmbr (wmbr.org). They have a variety of music thats usually good. They archive the shows to for later listen if you don't like whats on now.
- NAFV_P 13y ago>sometimes I'll stream wmbr (wmbr.org). I had a quick peek, I was wondering if RMS would be listening to it of this moment. I also had a listen to the Fretless, nice. My sister used to be an excellent fiddler.
- vonseel 13y agoSometimes silence. Sometimes guitar based music: Robben Ford, Matt Schofield, Johnny A, Satriani etc Sometimes electronic/pop: Daft Punk, Empire of the Sun, Cut Copy, Ratatat, El Ten Eleven Sometimes electro swing: Parov Stelar, similar on pandora radio Lots of Rdio radio and Pandora lately, influenced by one of above. Lately Rdio seems to introduce more artists than Pandora, and has more features (adventurous, artist only)....
- NAFV_P 13y agoHad a look at Cut Copy - Free Your Mind. Weird Video... it gets weirder. Robben Ford must get some sore fingers.
- vonseel 13y agoFord is great. I'm a guitar player myself, and I feel hearing scales and fast guitar playing keeps me going when working. Lyrics on the other hand can be distracting, unless foreign. There's a Norwegian band, Kaiser's Orchestra, that I listen to occasionally. http://youtu.be/8ZkFXnm-RNQ http://youtu.be/8ZkFXnm-RNQ
- jsonne 13y agoSwedish House Mafia Pandora Station
- NAFV_P 13y agoI looked up Pandora... bollocks you can't access it England. I'll have take your word for it that it's swish.
- drill_sarge 13y agoSoundtracks or instrumental stuff in general. Everything is ok for me if it has no lyrics/singer etc.
- NAFV_P 13y agoI tend to be the same, but I like to experiment.
- tamersalama 13y agoClassical - anyone from Brahms, Rachmaninoff, Beethoven, Chopin, Mahler, Mussorgsky, Gershwin, Tchaikovsky and others. Eras are anything from Baroque, Classical to Romantic but not Contemporary.
- NAFV_P 13y agoI'm fond of the Impressionists. Ravel: Music For Four Hands with Louis Lortie and Helene Mercier is worth a good ear. I'm interested in hearing some Baroque, but I'm clueless about the genre.
- tamersalama 13y agoI'm not too much into impressionists, but I love Debussy. For Baroque; Start with the king, Bach. Beware though, some complained it takes away from their brain cycles. Concerto in A Minor for Four Harpsichords: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_if3nhq64pE http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_if3nhq64pE Just give yourself a bit of time to get familiar with tonality and harmony.
- bdevine 13y agoI am one of those who can't have lyrics in the background. I like a mix of light classical and modern (Satie to Glass) along with cool jazz (if you include Sketches of Spain in that category). For my late nights I tend to go with Boards of Canada though.
- intull 13y agoMainly Instrumental for me. It varies from movie soundtracks (especially by Hans Zimmer) to classical and even trance or digital mmusic (which you can find in http://di.fm http://di.fm).
- b3b0p 13y agoKEXP.org - http://kexp.org http://kexp.org OCRemix - http://ocremix.org http://ocremix.org (there are also a ton of community created albums that are great) OCRemix Radio - http://rainwave.cc http://rainwave.cc When I'm bored and going through the motions working on something that doesn't need great thought I listen to podcasts or put Netflix on in the background for background noise.
- mikelyons 13y agoCom Truise - Galactic melt
- jongibbins 13y agoAnything with a good consistent rhythm and beat is good for me. I particularly find that (surprisingly!) liquid Drum & Bass helps get you in 'the zone' of concentration.
- james678 13y agoAnything that I have heard many times before. I find new music very distracting and music I have heard and enjoyed before very relaxing.
- loudnoises 13y agointernet radio! http://soma.fm http://soma.fm http://di.fm http://di.fm http://dublab.com http://dublab.com
- jetru 13y agoMetal - Heavy/Progressive/Melodic/Symphonic Electronic - Progressive/House/Dubstep I use Spotify
- PeterisP 13y agoFor hacking it's essential that lyrics don't take up any brainspace, as (at least for me) the verbal part of brain needs to 'hear code' I'm reading/writing. So it's either something purely instrumental (say, Apocalyptica), something completely foreign (j-rock? most european languages don't work as too many words are semi-understandable), or something that I've listened to for a dozen years and know entirely by heart.
- kennethtilton 13y agoI cannot listen to music when programming. If you held a gun to my head, I think New Age is the only thing content-free enough not to distract me.
- lucasnemeth 13y agoSteve Reich is great for hacking.
- lucasnemeth 13y agoAlso Luc Ferrari, Bernard Parmegiani, Tristain Murail.
- benji-york 13y agoGlenn Gould's 1981 recording of the Goldberg Variations. I use it like a Pomodoro timer. I start the recording, I work for 51 minutes and when it is over I take a break. The recording has a nice mix of relaxed and energetic segments and it is sufficiently repetitive that it isn't distracting.
- misterparker 13y agoBenjamin Briggs makes a lot of good stuff. I'm a bit of a NES nostalgic when coding. My love for coding began in 98 when I built my first website (a Zelda 64 Ocarina of Time fan-site) http://benjaminbriggs.bandcamp.com/track/this-track-may-snack http://benjaminbriggs.bandcamp.com/track/this-track-may-snac... (Let me know if you recognize the sound at 2:14 (clue its from an awesome NES game) https://soundcloud.com/zedd/zedd-legend-of-zelda-original https://soundcloud.com/zedd/zedd-legend-of-zelda-original I also highly recommend OCRemix.org if you too like game tunes. When not feeling gamey it might be Muse, Ratatat, Kamelot or whatever else feels a good pace to code with.