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Ask HN: Do you listen to music while working/programming?

13 points by 2pEXgD0fZ5cF ↗ HN
And if you do, why and what do you listen to? If you don't, why not?

Last year I started a new job and had this talk with one of my new coworkers, who never even considered that people do this, which surprised me.

Personally, I have been suffering from tinnitus for a while now, so having music (or whitenoise) on my ears makes it far easier to concentrate most of the time.

39 comments

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yarinr
I don't. I find it way easier to concentrate without music.
elisom78
You are right, sometimes it is very difficult to concentrate with music, especially if it is soulful songs. Also, I don't really like to study with music, I can not concentrate. In this, of course, we can find its pros and cons, as shown here: https://ivypanda.com/essays/distractions-while-studying-adva... but still, not everyone can work or study with distracting sounds.
saluki
I listen to music and podcasts while working/programming most of the day.

If it is focused work mainly electronic music and soundtracks.

Less focused I'll listen to podcasts or even audio books.

I even have a few tracks I'll just put on repeat (single track) if I really need to focus on something.

Night Rider Playlist (By Spotify) Tron Soundtrack (Daft Punk) Social Network Soundtrack The Naked and Famous Information Society Pet Shop Boys Eminem Anjunadeep

justhw
Yes, but it must be instrumental (as in no vocals).

Type in "jazz cafe" on youtube and you will find 5-6hr versions of easy listening music as background noise. The trick is to have the volume really really low.

karmakaze
I don't hate it. Feel old now, thanks :-)
wryoak
Hell yeah. Usually metal or some hard-hitting EDM. Softer stuff is nice but it's really easy for me to get distracted if it's not loud and aggressive. When it really fights for my attention and pumps me up I can more easily stick in that zone instead of drifting off to HN... Oops should turn my music back on
the_only_law
Not when programming, but when doing most anything else.
philipswood
I use music to shield from distracting noise in the surrounding local environment, and as tool to get into flow.

I find movie and game soundtracks work well as the music is made to add theme, pace and emotion to a story without distracting from it by drawing attention to itself.

Looping one song repeated sometimes helps.

Slow thematic songs seem to work best for planning and building up a mental vision to execute against, followed by something with a fast epic driving pace to execute against the built up vision.

It can make work feel quite epic when it works!

I can't do podcast and books while working unless doing extremely menial tasks - the kind that I cut out of my routine or find some way to automate.

yagizdegirmenci
I do listen a lot, like i can not work without listening something, lots of punk, emo stuff.

When i realized this, i got worried about it amd did some research, found some interesting stuff.

Here is what i found (Papers):

The cognitive effects of listening to background music: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4197792/pdf/fna...

TL DR: This study aimed to address this imbalance by assessing the impact of different types of background music on cognitive tasks tapping declarative memory and processing speed in older adults. Overall, background music tended to improve performance over no music and white noise, but not always in the same manner

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The Influence of Background Music on Learning in the Light of Different Theoretical Perspectives and the Role of Working Memory Capacity: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5671572/pdf/fps...

TL DR: measure learning outcomes we tested recall and comprehension. We did not find a mediation effect between background music and arousal or mood on learning outcomes. In addition, for recall performance there were no main effects of background music or working memory capacity, nor an interaction effect of these factors. However, when considering comprehension we did find an interaction between background music and working memory capacity: the higher the learners’ working memory capacity, the better they learned with background music.

-----

Correlation between work concentration level and background music: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/19759431/

TL DR: The findings showed that, in comparison with "no music at all", those who listened to music prior to testing obtained higher scores in attentiveness (most probably a supplemental effect of the music), whereas those who listened to music during attention test showed extremely high level of variation in attention test scoring. Background music does affect people's job-site behavior

jimmyvalmer
If you don't, why not?

To get something done, mostly.

heldrida
I've been developing for more then 10 years and have always listened to music; my favourite period was when lastfm worked, I used to pay about 5 USD per month if I'm not wrong.

Nowadays I have Spotify, but lastfm for some reason was much better.

There was a period inbetween these, where I used winamp back in the days, but there were quite a lot of flash websites with playlists.

I listen to whatever I feel like, from Instrumental music, hip hop, punk, jazz, blues, African music, South American, eastern Asian, Balkan, funk, soul, etc.

Depends! 2019 was mostly Khruangbin, I think.

zzo38computer
Sometimes, but usually not. When I do, they are usually various Amiga music files.
sloaken
When developing, fast passed music.

When debugging, silence.

When documenting, slow / smooth.

yesenadam
No. Why not? Because then I'd listen to the music instead of what I want to focus on.
jimmyvalmer
The reasoning here is airtight.
yesenadam
Well, I'm a jazz musician, so am used to listening very intently to music when there's music on, learning from it. When I put music on, it's to listen to it, to focus on it 100%. I understand other people might be more used to music as background music, and can have music on without listening to it. It's often a problem for me, as I usually don't like the background music in cafes and pubs, or the background music in youtube videos etc. And if I do like it, it's not less distracting!
jimmyvalmer
Agree that music is best appreciated by actually focusing on it, but I was generally put off how anybody could be confused why silence might be preferable for concentration.
tanseydavid
I am also a musician and have essentially the same response.

I know that there are many musicians in software (and vice-versa) and now I am very curious about how much influence musicianship has on the question at hand.

tcbasche
For me it forms part of the flow state, but yeah if there's something that demands my absolute full attention (some complex algorithm for instance) then I'll pause it.
FuckButtons
Anything without vocals is fine - lots of early 90’s techno idm and ambient music. I also listen to a lot of boiler room and NTS radio - though I skip any bits with talking or lyrics.
wreath
I don't listen to music anymore while working. I found myself either distracted, or spending a lot of time checking for something that fits my current mood w/o it being distracting. Plus, I got a new workstation and can't bother to login to my Spotify there.
phil3k
Mostly instrumental trance, good combination of classic melodies and upbeat bass
sethammons
Only in a noisy environment; can’t have vocals. I tend to use electronica which is something I’d not normally listen to.
fenesiistvan
Jazzy radio budapest all day since years in my work-hours only.
p0d
Yes, daft punk etc while coding. Mostly tracks with no vocals. Classical music while studying.
account-5
I'm not a fulltime dev and only program small scripts mostly for personal use, but I listen to heavy metal the heavier the better.

That being said if I really need to concentrate on something silence is best for me.

croh
Mostly led zeppelin, blues. Though when coding very seriously, no music at all.
tanseydavid
No, I prefer the absolute minimum possible amount of sensory stimulation when I am working.

I am also a musician and any sort of music DEMANDS my attention.

I am not able to listen to music passively.

karmakaze
That was weird, went all day without noticing then...

> Personally, I have been suffering from tinnitus

Reading the word made be hear my oh so familiar tone. It's fairly low intensity and I compared it to tone files to be ~14kHz. Will stop noticing when I get deep into something: gotta go, StarCraft2 calls.

Kaibeezy 

  post rock
  long form
  minimal vocals
  ===
  Isis
  Mono
  Mogwai
  Eluvium
  Caspian
  Pelican
  Red Sparowes
  Worm Ouroboros
  Do Make Say Think
  This Will Destroy You
diatone
Headphones in is a great signal for “I’m trying to get things done, think twice before talking to me”.

To answer your question: always instrumental. Ambient soundscapes for exploratory work, or to take a breather and think laterally. Then some jazzy house to crack down and get some work in.

This week that pair’s looking like Rhubarb[1] and Emotional Intelligence[2].

[1] https://open.spotify.com/track/2Bc4llhjJBW77I552RgA3L [2] https://open.spotify.com/track/3yMYs3jJdAPxMgqb0CYZUG

boris_online
> Headphones in is a great signal for “I’m trying to get things done, think twice before talking to me”.

Something I miss a great deal during wfh. When doing it in the office, 9 times out of 10 I didn't even anything playing!