HN Explorer

Ask HN: What are your working tunes?

18 points by viaHack ↗ HN
I really get things done with the Album Leaf's Enchanted Hill album. Unfortunately, the album eventually ends. Looking to add to the arsenal, so I want to know: what are some artists or albums that seem to put you in the zone?

46 comments

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Someone1234
"The Sims 3 Pets" soundtrack. No joke. I've never played The Sims 3, but like the soundtrack because it is like [good] elevator music. Kind of reminds me of the SimCity 2000 soundtrack, just happy but with that undertone of momentum.

Game and movie soundtracks are great for work. Particularly when they are just scores or choirs (as opposed to bands, duets, or single vocalists). Way less distracting.

viaHack
"that undertone of momentum". Yes.
tsomctl
Pink Floyd, M83, Porcupine Tree, Dead Skeletons Dead Mantra, Arcade Fire, Naked and Famous. Some of it is very spacey, some of it I have listened to so many times I don't pay attention to it any more. If you still like the above bands but are tired of the albums, move on to bootleg concerts.
garrickvanburen
My Pandora channels on shuffle - largely: drum-n-bass, ska, and punk. For me, Pandora requires the least cognitive load. If I start finding it distracting - rather than beneficial - I hit pause.
krylon
Ambient seems to work best for me. More generally speaking, calm, instrumental music (i.e. no vocals), which includes some jazz-y music as well (In A Silent Way by Miles Davis, or Sunset Mission by Bohren & Der Club of Gore, to name two).

If that is up your alley, I can recommend the following artists:

Boards of Canada come to mind. Carbon Based Lifeforms (especially their album "Twenty Three"). Marconi Union. Steve Roach made some pretty awesome stuff (Structures From Silence especially).

Every now and then - rarely, actually, but that is not a statement - I will get out the Cocteau Twins. There are lots of vocals, of course, but rarely anything resembling lyrics, so that works for me.

Also, some of the stuff Dead Can Dance made before they split up was pretty great. Towards the Within and Spiritchaser were quite great.

munimkazia
I don't have the patience to discover and curate a lot of music myself these days (atleast not enough to last my work day), so I like a couple of online radio stations. This one is my favorite:

WritheM Radio's Programming Electronic and Alternative on Grooveshark: http://grooveshark.com/#!/writhem/broadcast

SJMosley
I think https://bop.fm has good potential for creating playlists since it uses multiple services you can find most songs.
rrrrrraul
I tend to gravitate to music without lyrics.

I've been listening to a playlist I found on Spotify - "Beats to think to"

Also, if you like the sounds of a coffee shop, checkout coffitivity.com (no affiliation). If I'm in the right mood, gets me in the zone.

jevin
I think no lyrics is key! Instrumental tracks are less intrusive and have a lot of repeating patterns.
krylon
I completely agree!

I think it is the acoustic equivalent to the Clippy effect: Human voices tend to take up a substantial portion of our mental bandwidth, because it is not just a sound our brain has to recognize, but then it has to go and actually understand the words being said or sung.

Instrumental music tends to have - at least on me - the opposite effect, it occupies the parts of my mind that otherwise might distract me, leaving the parts doing the hard work alone.

buckofalltrades
Following a LPT from /r/programming, I'm trying video game soundtracks, which are supposedly designed to help you concentrate on the task at hand, whether that's grinding or a boss fight. No guarantee that you'll get the boss fight song when you're in the middle of something difficult, though, so YMMV.

Currently using: https://itunes.apple.com/us/album/borderlands-2-original-sou...

Bahamut
Video game music & rearrangements, especially from http://ocremix.org, but most typically metal, especially of the power & progressive variety. I like to constantly engage my brain, especially with overtones of overcoming adversity, so power metal is perfect for that.
krylon
While I personally prefer electronic music, I was kind of surprised that most of the programmers I've met in person seemed to be into metal, covering pretty much everything from good old Black Sabbath through Power Metal all the way to Grindcore and Black Metal.

Not that I am judging in any way. I used to listen to a lot of Heavy Metal, and I still do occasionally (especially when I am angry/frustrated - it seems to have a cathartic effect on me).

For programming, I prefer calm, quiet, unobtrusive music, but apparently there are many programmers out there who like to rock. :)

s0l1dsnak3123
I like to listen to a lot of rammstein. That powerful chugging bass melody and the not-english vocals help keep me motivated.
reefoctopus
Chiptunes are great for programming. Check out fantomenk.

https://soundcloud.com/fantomenk/cpu-mood-2010

https://soundcloud.com/fantomenk/dischipo-2009

https://soundcloud.com/fantomenk/fantomenk-playing-with-powe...

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mikestew
Not an artist or album specifically, but Soma.FM is my go-to for work noise. Instrumental electronica, ambient, or you get it it with lyrics if you like. One of my faves is ambient with SF public safety radio (police, fire) dubbed on top. Sounds weird, but works well for technical work.
jweather
http://di.fm has a wide variety of electronica that appeals to my various moods... most frequently Liquid DnB or Chillstep these days, but Chillout Dreams and Vocal Trance are also favorites. I'm usually on there unless I wanted to listen to a specific artist on Google Play All Access.
krylon
I used to listen to di.fm a lot a couple of years back. I stopped listening when I got myself a new desktop computer at the beginning of 2009, and made the mistake of buying an Asus EeeBox. For some reason, Shoutcast streams in general would run very badly on that machine, so I stopped. :-/

Thanks for the hint, I will see how that goes. :)

organsnyder
Depends on the task and my mood. Classical and prog-rock are the most common for me. Lately, I've found myself not having any music most of the time—I'm better able to concentrate without it. I think that's partially because I am a musician, and I find myself analyzing it (regardless of whether it has words).
kamphey
pick a song and loop it. loop it for 5-6 hours. it's something that will get into your skin but then fade off and become a nice sofa to sit on (per say). After an hour any song on loop will just become working background.
viaHack
From the suggestions I've checked out soma.fm has been my favorite. DEF CON station is doing me right
joshschreuder
I like more instrumental post-rock stuff like Godspeed You! Black Emperor or Explosions in the Sky, as well as some more electronic stuff like Vondelpark or CFCF.