
You are listening to New York – police radio and ambient music - manuw
http://youarelistening.to/newyork
======
mkal_tsr
[ SomaFM SF 10-33]

[http://somafm.com/sf1033/](http://somafm.com/sf1033/)

Ambient music mixed with the sounds of San Francisco public safety radio
traffic.

[ SomaFM Mission Control ]

[http://somafm.com/missioncontrol/](http://somafm.com/missioncontrol/)

A mix of ambient and experimental music mixed with the historical sounds of
the space program.

~~~
fredley
Soma FM is one of my favourite things. Their stations are among my top
listening while working. The lack of ads/interruption and excellently compiled
playlists make for wonderful listening that truly augments my mood and ability
to concentrate.

~~~
seren
Another recommendation : I used to listen to "Bluemars - Music for the space
traveler" stream, but it has been defunct[0] for some time. However, it seems
someone is trying to revive it there [1]. It is really great to use as
background when coding. Eerie and inspiring.

(I just hope that my link won't DDOS it)

[0] [http://bluemars.org/](http://bluemars.org/) [1]
[http://echoesofbluemars.org/index.php](http://echoesofbluemars.org/index.php)

~~~
ronjouch
Thanks, and thanks to mkal_tsr for the link to Mission Control, that sounds
like fantastic music for work! Here is a list of my go-to music for work:

* (mandatory, already seen multiple times on HN) [http://musicforprogramming.net/](http://musicforprogramming.net/)

* Kruder & Dorfmeister - The K+D Sessions. Fantastic mix.

* Apparat - The whole discography, but especially Silizium, and Krieg und Frieden. Both mix deliciously electronic and violin/cello.

------
shirowski
There's also a similar native app for iOS called La Vue – perfect for late
night coding sessions. It's also an eerie experience to walk down the streets
of your own city while listening to the sounds of another city on the other
side of the globe/country.

[La Vue for iOS] [https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/la-
vue/id566957123?mt=8](https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/la-vue/id566957123?mt=8)

------
lifeformed
Dang, this is cool...

I love the idea of procedural music using live data sets. This works really
well - a lot of ambient music I listen to already has radio samples in it. I
wonder if you could add reverb to the radio? Maybe with the room size
oscillating very slowly.

Might I recommend a lower default volume for the radio? I'm listening to it
more for the sound quality and not the words themselves.

~~~
ominous
[http://url2la.uservoice.com/forums/201637-general](http://url2la.uservoice.com/forums/201637-general)
for

suggestions, it seems!

------
xtrmntr
Thanks for listening to my site everyone. It's crazy that 3+ years after
launch it's still finding new listeners every day! Feel free to @ me on
twitter with any questions (@idontlikewords)

~~~
numbers
When the music player slides away, how do I bring it back?

~~~
xtrmntr
Use the "RSS" icon in the top nav to slide it in and out. Not the most
intuitive, I know. But in keeping with the minimalism... =)

~~~
numbers
Thanks!

------
bigiain
Ohhh, I like this one:

[http://youarelistening.to/numbers](http://youarelistening.to/numbers)

~~~
chillax
Some background:
[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Numbers_station](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Numbers_station)

~~~
bigiain
Yeah, I've got The Conet Project 4CD box set.

A guy at Aquarius Records in San Francisco convinced me to "just have a
listen" back in '98 or '99, and I bought them _immediately_

~~~
algo
It's available to download at archive.org:
[https://archive.org/details/ird059](https://archive.org/details/ird059)

------
harel
I absolutely love this. On one hand you've got the peacefulness of mellow
ambient music, and on the other, the potential death, doom and destruction
from the police channels. It properly conveys the 'techno' feeling that
something can go horribly wrong at any moment.

~~~
theoh
Apparently the idea for Twitter came to Jack Dorsey from listening to a police
scanner: [http://www.cnet.com/news/jack-dorsey-on-his-childhood-
inspir...](http://www.cnet.com/news/jack-dorsey-on-his-childhood-inspiration-
for-twitter/)

It's very much a techno thing, reminiscent of a track like Space Manoeuvres'
"Stage One". I'm not sure if it's ethical to do it with live emergency
communications, though.

------
shurcooL
Can someone elaborate please? Why listen to police radio while listening to
ambient music?

I am genuinely curious and would like to understand this better.

~~~
aric
It invokes a mood. It distills a spirit of night and cities that never sleep.
Urgent events from a police scanner play upon a feeling of social
connectedness. Combining that with ethereal music plays upon senses of
tranquility, danger, peace, haunting, calms before storms, and life
transpiring. Dramas like Blade Runner, The Killing, and True Detective, as a
few examples, achieve many of their most beautiful moments through that same,
heightened essence.

It's great for programming at night. It's meditative without entering a full
alpha state. It's like other moods, such as sounds of rain and nature, that
linger but don't distract. Many people find it conducive to "the zone" of
creativity and productivity.

~~~
pdknsk
This is very strange to me. How can it not distract? Some guy beats up his
wife, or worse, and knowing so helps you coding? I would have never guessed
it. I understand the notion about a certain mood, as in Blade Runner, but
that's carefully arranged fiction. This is real life. (The last sentence
probably reads more dramatic than intended.)

~~~
waterlesscloud
Air Traffic Control feeds can be easier to let blur, since they lack any sense
of drama. They do tend to be less busy late at night, though.

~~~
philsnow
It's noon somewhere.

(I don't know where you get your ATC feeds but maybe you can get ones from
across the world)

------
yoctonaut
This is a really great idea--bravo, xtrmntr! Are you traversing a SoundCloud
playlist, or pulling randomly based on tags? It's quite cool.

If the police feeds are too dramatic, there's that excellent (archival) NASA
audio one as well:
[http://youarelistening.to/nasa](http://youarelistening.to/nasa)

------
smikhanov
Worth mentioning that they cover a number of cities, including St Petersburg,
where they listen to road traffic police (in Russian of course).

------
RIMR
This was really soothing until SFPD started talking about a nasty
Truck/Motorcycle accident. They dropped the line "The rider is still down",
and now I'm switching to ambient by itself.

Nice site though. This is actually pretty soothing as long as it's typical,
nearly-undecipherable police chatter.

~~~
selectodude
Yeah, listening to Chicago's at night can get pretty gnarly.

------
thehoff
This is just great. Not only the sounds, but I love the backdrops. I'm
reminded of how much I miss LA.

------
acc00
Very nice!

Why not make the third component live -- and include a webcam feed in the
background instead of the static image?

------
cichli
In a similar vein, there's a great album that mixes ambient music with field
recordings from airport terminals:
[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Music_for_Real_Airports](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Music_for_Real_Airports)

------
sunseb
Nice ! I would love to have a stream to play in my music player rather than in
my web browser !

~~~
robmcm
Bundle this into an app with some nice photos or live webcam and I'll throw
some money at it!

~~~
achairapart
Looks like they already did it: [https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/la-
vue/id566957123](https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/la-vue/id566957123)

~~~
robmcm
Boom, purchased!

------
fumar
This is really cool. Makes me feel productive. I have been working on ambient
music that allows me to work and stay focused. Just released some of my first
tunes here: [http://www.vpena.com](http://www.vpena.com)

~~~
jwallaceparker
Hey, great work. Listening to it now.

What toolset or DAW did you use to create these?

~~~
fumar
This was all done with Ableton live 9 on Surface Pro 3. I did use some field
recordings and a few micro samples from Bill Evan's album, Moonbeams.

~~~
jwallaceparker
Wow great to hear.

I've been learning Ableton Live 9 on my Mac, along with a Push controller,
which I can't recommend enough.

------
daturkel
The site is also mentioned in a good episode of the design podcast 99%
Invisible.

[http://99percentinvisible.org/episode/episode-23-you-are-
lis...](http://99percentinvisible.org/episode/episode-23-you-are-listening-
to/)

------
aric
Bookmarked. I _already_ occasionally listen to local and nonlocal police
scanners via Broadcastify with my own playlists of atmosphere and ambient-
shoegaze music. No joke. I'll use this. Some beautiful, fresh music on the
roll here.

~~~
grimgrin
Mind sharing any of your playlist?

I loved your explanation: "It invokes a mood. It distills a spirit of night
and cities that never sleep. Urgent events from a police scanner play upon a
feeling of social connectedness. Combining that with ethereal music plays upon
senses of tranquility, danger, peace, haunting, calms before storms, and life
transpiring."

~~~
aric
Thank you! I'd be honored. Likewise, I'll be eager for any music from you,
especially as you're even willing to ask. It should be noted that I truly love
_all_ forms of music and sound without reservation.

Would be nice if HN had a simple forum or messaging/alerts for these moments.
My lists are a disastrous mess in Foobar. It's time to finally get up to par
and organize what I can on Spotify or whatnot for these situations. Any way to
message, or just check back in a few days?

------
pavel_lishin
I tuned in just in time to hear a report of a child being shot. On the plus
side, the relaxing music just makes this seem like the opening of a drama
film.

------
tragic
My first thought when I saw the website name was Screenwriter's Blues by Soul
Coughing - which turns out to be looping on the info page!

Very cool idea.

------
awjr
Thought this was the stupidest thing ever, then I listened. It's rather cool
and seems to work. Kudos.

------
toasted
absolutely love this, well done!

