HN Explorer

Ask HN: What music do you listen to when programming?(or do you not?)

26 points by nbosco182 ↗ HN

43 comments

[ 3.4 ms ] story [ 93.2 ms ] thread
ignorantguy
I use brain.fm It helps me to focus.
thecupisblue
I used to combine brain.fm with some kind of minimal music. Gets me zoning really good.
oblib
I don't listen to any music when I code, or have any background noise at all, like a TV or radio playing.

At times I'll shut off my phones and email app and anything else that might distract me.

priitmaxx
Wow i thought I was the only one.
byoung2
I usually have Law and Order reruns playing in the background
mbrock
The Blade Runner soundtrack by Vangelis, of course.
firelemissiles
"Track 45 left ... stop - enhance 15 to 23 bip bip bip"
roystonvassey
I find any kind of music highly distracting while programming.
twobyfour
Silence if possible, but in the open office, whatever repetitive instrumental music I can get my hands on to drown out the damn noise.
gpresot
I don't code for work, but when I need to focus on what I am doing (excel, powerpoint etc) I use noisli.com (picking usually the rain soundtrack) or the noizio app on mac / iphone. I find easier to focus with these "noise" soundtracks (rain, train, river, cafe...) than with music/songs
thisone
at work, I generally don't. It's more important for me to know what's being discussed around me.

At home, I don't either, though I generally have some sort of nonsense tv on.

aryamaan
>at work, I generally don't. It's more important for me to know what's being discussed around me.

I would like to that do. But open office and continuous chatting make it kinda impossible.

thisone
I also work in an open office environment, with all the associated chatting, and general office noise.

I just ignore everything that isn't important to me.

mattbgates
I like music with hymns or mellow tones. Music I've been listening to a lot lately:

Moby Lindsey Stirling Solar Fields Imagine Dragons M83 The War on Drugs Gorkem Han Jr Tony Anderson Simon & Garfunkel

Definitely helps block out noise and gets me to focus.

tiben_
I usually listen to music i already know well and like. It seems less distracting than discovering new tunes.
eb0la
For high-focus I reccomend rain.today (great site, btw). Great with noise isolation headphones.

For "mechanical" work, I prefer Metal: the faster, the better.

mod
I usually have no music or distractions, but sometimes I like music.

I tend to need music without lyrics, or in a foreign language, or sometimes that is so familiar to me that I don't pay attention to the words.

Usually I can't have music for high-focus tasks. Talking, either, so I use a linux shell command to generate whitenoise sometimes, it sounds a bit like ocean waves:

alias whitenoise='play -q -c 2 -n synth brownnoise band -n 1600 1500 tremolo .1 30'

fuwaishi
I also don't like music or distractions when coding, maybe unless it's "mechanical" like another user commented. I didn't know about the play command and generating noise though, that's really cool! Saving that command for sure.

Thanks!

macNchz
I find that fairly fast and rhythmic, or 'spacey' instrumental or electronic music can help me get into a focused state, but I often turn it off after a while when I’m really into it. I particularly like psychedelic trance/goa, instrumental hip hop, or electronic video game/horror film music.

Some examples I've listened to a bunch while working: Trifonic, Govinda, Metaform, Hallucinogen, Shpongle, Blue Sky Black Death, Emancipator, SURVIVE, Trentemøller, Carbon Based Lifeforms.

quantum_nerd
LoFi Instrumental Hip-Hop on Spotify(there are a few playlists), always puts me in the flow zone.
asidiali
Mainly instrumental ambient house - also any Google Music playlist with both of the words "chill" and "hop" in it's title...
rajathagasthya
Iron Maiden and Classical Essentials playlist on Spotify.
andrei_says_
Subtle, not too emotional, harmonizing, complex, repetitive, no words I can understand.

Some examples

Tabla: Ustad Alla Rakha -Ustad Zakir Hussain Jugolbondhi (complex, listen on low): https://youtu.be/zcUZiuejt9g

* Ali Farka Toure (African, warm, joyful): https://youtu.be/qI_h49D1xo8

* chill hop: axian’s mixes do it for me https://youtu.be/hdmSovWFhig

* sometimes a pandora station seeded with Keith Jarred, bill evans.

* sometimes a pandora station seeded with Pugliese and Treilo because I’m learning Tango and those songs won’t memorize themselves. Plus they’re incredibly beautiful.

Sohcahtoa82
One of two things depending on my mood:

1. A Pandora station seeded with Moonlight Sonata. It plays calmer classical music, avoiding the more in-your-face classical like Bach's Toccata and Fugue. Sometimes plays modern stuff like Piano Guys. I frequently combine this with some rain noise from Noisli.

2. Classic Trance. Stuff like Paul Van Dyk - Words.

I generally avoid anything with lyrics. Lyrics are incredibly distracting.