6 ms·
Ask YC: What music do you listen to when programming?
This has probably been asked before, but I am curious about the musical tastes of all the rest of you, having noted very similar tastes in the "Ask YC: Books" thread.
I'll start us off:
Mashups:
http://bootiesf.com
http://djearworm.com
http://partyben.com
Also all manner of classical: Bach, Mozart, Strauss, Beethoven, Debussy
And last but not least, some excellent indie radio: http://www.bagelradio.com/blog/index.html
- pius 19y agoLots of things, but predominantly hip-hop and rock. If I'm in "discovery mode," I'll use Songza or Last.FM.
- tjr 19y agoMostly classical (especially Bach) and jazz (Dave Brubeck, Pat Metheny, Abraham Laboriel, Miles Davis, et al) Very rarely anything with lyrics, as it tends to disrupt my concentration.
- eru 19y agoNone. Interferes with my concentration.
- superjared 19y agoTry DragonForce.
- eru 19y agoI will. Just in general - not for programming. Part of my problem with music and programming is - that I like distracting and complex music.
- pius 19y agoOn another note, do you guys wear headphones/earbuds or use external speakers? For me, I really find external speakers distracting, while headphones suck me into the code.
- tjr 19y agoHeadphones, but mainly because part of the use of me listening to music is to block out other sounds.
- sspencer 19y agoEarcup headphones all the way. Noise canceling is an added bonus.
- apgwoz 19y agoI'm incredibly glad my last employer bought me a pair of Bose Quiet Comfort headphones for Christmas. Probably the most comfortable headphones I've ever worn.
- edw519 19y agoSpeakers. I don't want anything "touching" me when I'm doing my thing.
- brent 19y agohttp://www.gradolabs.com/product_pages/sr60.htm http://www.gradolabs.com/product_pages/sr60.htm
- Neoryder 19y agoDepends. Planning/Thoughts stage: Classical, Jazz Implementation Stage with Nothing to Explore: RnB, Rock Exploratory: nothing, flow issues
- davidmathers 19y agohttp://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=61831 http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=61831
- manvsmachine 19y agoNot everyone listens to their usual genres when coding.
- jamiequint 19y agoheadphones, mostly everything, but especially daft punk, Tiesto, lots of blues and stuff too.
- manvsmachine 19y agoRecently, a lot of movie soundtracks and instrumentals; lyrics divert my attention. BSG, 28 Weeks, moody/epic stuff. Not sure why, but it works.
- irrelative 19y agoLyrics really break my concentration too. I like electronica for that reason -- it doesn't have vocals and it's got a nice motivating beat. Try Aphex Twin for some really good stuff.
- sspencer 19y agoI really like Hans Zimmer's soundtracks: "The Thin Red Line" and "Gladiator" are both particularly good.
- manvsmachine 19y agoYes, Gladiator... I meant to include that as well.
- superjared 19y agoCliqhop at somafm.com
- misterbwong 19y agoAny music that my brain doesn't try to process. Preserves concentration while keeping out noise. I'm currently listening to Nujabes - Modal Soul. It's a mix of hiphop/jazz and mostly instrumental.
- Xichekolas 19y agoHalf the time I listen to nothing... the other half involves NIN, Tool, Deftones, Massive Attack, Glassjaw, Ska-P, and other music roughly like that.
- carpal 19y agoI've scientifically confirmed that The Talking Heads made the best hacking music known to man. Aside from that, I listen to a lot of Of Montreal, other indie pop, some electronic and movie soundtracks (There Will Be Blood and The Fountain OSTs are both great).
- edw519 19y agoI prefer to enjoy the silence. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hd7y6A-5uTY http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hd7y6A-5uTY
- ph0rque 19y agoHow 'bout taking the next step and making a shared Pandora station for hacking?
- sspencer 19y agoNot a bad idea at all. I'd need a pretty eclectic library to please everyone here, though.
- ayc 19y agoMotorhead, Accept, Iron Maiden -- dedicated to programmers :)
- arasakik 19y agohttp://www.thesixtyone.com http://www.thesixtyone.com
- mattmaroon 19y agoWell, I write rather than program (well, technically I do both, but I suck pretty badly at the latter) but I like Mahler, especially as conducted by Bernstein. Rhapsody has a phenomenal classical selection.
- palish 19y agoRain. It's probably strange, but ambient rain sounds are quite relaxing. If anyone is interested in this, go here: http://www.hypnosishealthcare.com/rainsounds.html http://www.hypnosishealthcare.com/rainsounds.html Choose "Rain MP3 Download". Twelve bucks gets you an hour of rain without any background noise at all. Note that you'll need to play with Winamp's equalizer a bit to make it sound great through headphones. The Full Bass preset is perfect.
- andyn 19y agoThere's also a free program that does that, along with various other background noises: http://www.peterhirschberg.com/mysoftware.html http://www.peterhirschberg.com/mysoftware.html (Aire Freshener)
- palish 19y agoAwesome! Thank you. That program is really fantastic.
- fish 18y agohttp://www.archive.org/details/JacquesRicherCountryRain http://www.archive.org/details/JacquesRicherCountryRain
- tirrellp 19y agoUsually I listen to stuff that allows me to think... some chilled out stuff like Stereolab, Free Design, Telepopmusik, Thief, Portishead, Jazzanova, Forss, Yesterdays New Quintet, Wahoo, and more stuff like that.
- pistoriusp 19y agoI use Sennheiser inner ear headphones and Itunes tells me that I mostly listen to: Punk and music between the 70's and 90's.
- thedaniel 19y agoGroove Salad: http://somafm.com/ http://somafm.com/ Cliqhop (also somaFM) if the problems are complex.
- davidw 19y agoStuff I've heard a lot before, so that I'm not paying much attention to it. Fishbone!
- apgwoz 19y agoI find my collection of Punk/Hardcore suits me best for programming. It keeps my mind alert, and works even better than caffeine in some cases.
- mgummelt 19y agoExplosions in the Sky
- projectileboy 19y agoI alternate between classical (I like Mozart and Beethoven and some others) and electronic/techno dance music. I can't have vocals; it breaks my flow.
- jward 19y agoI'm exactly the same way but I've found that sighs j-pop fits in this as well. If I can't understand the words then it doesn't break my flow. German techno also seems to work.
- aswanson 19y agoI hear you on the vocals; your brain might work like mine...I never forget a conversation and I can't tune them out no matter how trivial.
- bootload 19y agohttp://www.last.fm/user/bootload/charts/?charttype=overall&subtype=artist http://www.last.fm/user/bootload/charts/?charttype=overall&#...
- astrec 19y agoI'm fairly partial to the drone of a tanpura/tambura/tamboura (a bit like a sitar, only fretless). I visited with this swami for for a bit, and he gave me a recording as a background for Japa practice - it's incredibly powerful concentration music.
- herdrick 19y agoSilence! The voices tell me what to type.
- rugoso 19y agoI usually listen to only one track in repeat (for about an hour), one that I'm very familiar with, so i don't get distracted by it (it may or not have vocals) I've notice that by doing so i stay in the same mind frame all the time. Also, it is good to choose a track that puts you in the right mind frame, examples: "Chicago" by Sufjan Stevens puts me in an optimistic and somehow upbeat state, "A Warm Place" by Nine Inch Niles puts me in a more introverted-deep thinking state
- aswanson 19y agoJamiroquai
- deleted 19y ago[deleted]
- realrbman 19y agoExplosions in the Sky
- bayuadji 19y agolately I listen to Naruto Soundtrack :)
- adityaadvani 19y agoShulman http://www.aleph-zero.info/ http://www.aleph-zero.info/
- agentbleu 19y agohttp://myplaylist.biz http://myplaylist.biz :-) I made this lol
- aikii 19y agoIf you're into ambient/chillout, you might want to try jon hopkins or blue states. Kind of "elevator music", still, it works for me ;-) I'm also a big fan of last.fm in discovery mode for that matter.
- LogicHoleFlaw 19y agoI don't listen to anything while I'm coding. It's too distracting. Actually, I blacklisted the sound drivers on my work laptop to eliminate any possibility of a random program making noise while I'm trying to work. Though, that does limit the utility of YouTube.
- Novash 19y agoI think I learned more about music on this thread than by listening to radio on the last year. I will try some of the artists mentioned here later on. I usually listen to internet radio. Music doesn't really bother me, but silence does. Silence makes any noise seem like a thunder to me.
- jobeirne 19y agoSoulja Boy Tell 'Em.
- papersmith 19y agoFor classicals I find light-hearted sonatas and chamber music good for concentration. Symphonies are usually too distracting. Other times I like the "ambient" channel on www.pandora.com. A while ago when I was hooked on Flight Simulator I had a Boeing 747 running in the background while I worked. The engine sound + distant radio chatters produce a calm atmosphere.