

Poll: Music while coding: Yes/No and What Kind? - gremlinsinc

Music can be inspiring, motivating, and push buttons in different centers of the brain. - - What music do you listen to while coding? Or do you find music to be a distraction?
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lmm
I'll only listen to music if I need to block out noise - it's about minimizing
distraction. I need something relatively predictable - simple, somewhat
repetitive; if there are lyrics they need to be able to wash over me rather
than hooking my attention. Usually that means either classical or pop.

Lately I've listened to Angels & Airwaves a fair bit - fairly simple melodies,
electronically pure, and while there's emotion there it's gentle and chilled
enough to keep me relaxed.

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fein
It all depends on mood. Some days I rock out to Porter Robinson, Shreddie
Mercury, Bassnectar, etc.

Other days its a crazy spread of Sigur Ros, Porcupine Tree, Animals as
Leaders, and Mars Volta.

Some days I just need silence. I know thats a lot of name dropping, but it
hopefully shows the overall spread that qualifies my least favorite statement:
"It Depends"

~~~
ctb_mg
Agreed here, my preferences mirror this mostly. If I need to zone everything
else out and focus in to get things done, I'll put on isolating headphones and
music depending on mood.

If I'm doing more contemplative work and the surroundings are quiet, I'll go
without.

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atox
When working in a quiet environment I prefer not to listen to any music.

When working in an open floor office (which I hate when coding) then I fall
back to white noise or ambient music in combination with a good noise
cancelling headphone.

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dzink
Chill music with some dissonance and resolution but no or non-distracting
lyrics. The dissonance somehow gets my brain to think on a deeper level and
the chill/sad sounds keep me focused and calm so I can keep my ars down on the
chair for 16 hours at a time. Lately:

\- Oblivion credits song

\- Massive Attack - Teardrop

\- Royksopp - What else is there?

My biggest pitfall I have when coding is that I get into victory-dance mode
when I get something new working and it distracts me to the point where I get
less done. By running a slightly sad music library I can stay grounded in good
times and intrigued in bad.

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frigg
I never listen to music while doing anything that required mental focus and/or
which involves learning. I did listen to music when doing less demanding
things like making a (simple) website.

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gremlinsinc
To answer my own question: Somedays I do somedays I don't and type really
depends on attitude -- somedays I might listen to the Les Mis soundtrack, or
Lord of the Rings, or Titanic -- other days Scorpions / Kansas / Rush / Yes,
other days Beautiful South / Smith's / Morrissey -- I haven't really
quantified though whether I'm more focused while listening to music, or while
not listening to anything...

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RogerL
I don't listen often; when I do it is usually jazz or classical. For jazz
usually cool jazz as opposed to hard bop or free jazz (great to listen to,
impossible to concentrate). For classical pretty much baroque or chamber music
(especially classical guitar). Occasionally something like Reggae if I just
want to bounce around on my seat while doing something relatively brainless.
But mostly I prefer silence.

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pieterhg
Drum & Bass is my main love, so I listen to my YouTube channel:
[http://youtube.com/pandadnb](http://youtube.com/pandadnb)

But I've getting back into grime, garage and acid house lately through Rinse
FM: [http://rinse.fm/player](http://rinse.fm/player)

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inspirev
It depends on my mood and the time of day.

During the day I generally listen to country. In the evening I switch to
classical music and for late late nights - hard rock/metal.

Sometimes during the day I'll put my headphones on just to drain out excess
noise - even though I'm not listening to anything.

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elwell
Jazz is my favorite programming music. In particular, Christmas Jazz (vince
guaraldi trio, and some brad mehldau -style songs: pandora station:
[http://www.pandora.com/station/159969656237355797](http://www.pandora.com/station/159969656237355797))

~~~
tylermac1
Mehldau is one of my more common choices. As a guitarist, I also lean towards
Wes Montgomery, Kenny Burrell, and Joe Pass from time to time.

Otherwise it's more groove heavy DJs like Flying Lotus, Four Tet, Caribou,
etc.

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alanclimer
Yes but not always. Anything in the Buddha Bar collection, ambient, lounge,
world, new age, trance, chill & space. Sometimes the blues & rock. Lyrics at
times can distract but any good music beats noise when coding among chaos.
Headphones are a must.

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diorray
If i have to work on algorithms; nothing,

If it requires mental focus; Ratatat, Amon Tobin

otherwise; Steve Vai, Dio, Pink Floyd, XYZ, Led Zeppelin, Mezarkabul,
Bulutsuzluk Ozlemi, Baris Manco, Erkin Koray, Cem Karaca etc.

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mathewsimonton
At the SEO agency I work at we've been playing classical music on Pandora for
the past few days and everyone is liking it. It's a pleasant change of pace
from the alternative pop/rock we usually play.

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centdev
For some reason I cannot work in silence especially when writing code. I tend
to listen to rock, rap, drum and bass, dub step. Anything loud. Headphones on.
Anything with a high bpm tends to help me.

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apolwla
dub. (classic dub) but Richard Williams in The Animator's Survival Kit draws a
good argument against listening to music while working.
[http://www.conceptart.org/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid...](http://www.conceptart.org/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=823011&d=1257584289)

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himanshuy
Depends. Music helps me to focus or block outside focus. My favorite is Hans
Zimmer station on Pandora.

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rustyf
Drum and bass when things are going well. Trance is also great.

Nothing when it's going shit ;)

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redrory
Classical only for me focusatwill.com/music/#player

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Randgalt
Opera mostly, jazz standards or Progressive rock

~~~
Randgalt
BTW - here's my most excellent Prog Rock Spotify list:
[http://open.spotify.com/user/randgalt/playlist/3plvNgEo53WDz...](http://open.spotify.com/user/randgalt/playlist/3plvNgEo53WDztDCohQtr4)

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czbond
State Of Trance, SNS Mix, or the Black Keys.

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michaelcolenso
Plastikman.

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PavlovsCat
Not always, but when doing routine and/or boring things that just need to be
done:

[http://i.imgur.com/BEglNuP.gif](http://i.imgur.com/BEglNuP.gif)

As to what kind of music, some tunes by Calyx & Teebee or Ed Rush & Optical
seem to do the trick for me, and other music "in that style"... hard for me to
answer precisely without spamming youtube links, since I like individual
songs, never artists or genres as a whole. Well, except just about anything by
Skeewiff that doesn't have lyrics, which is an entirely different mood, but
works great for pretending I'm an Austin Powers style secret agent :D

When trying to solve a problem that's new to me, I usually do best in silence,
and if that fails I need a shower or a walk. So yes, for me music (or movies,
radio, anything really) is a distraction, but sometimes I find that
distraction from "chores" while doing them very helpful indeed. I'm not a
great and never a groundbreaking coder, so such chores seem to make up the
majority of my coding time.

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mumbi
Always. Dub-step, rock, jam bands, or jazz.

