
MusicForProgramming(); - odddogmedia
http://www.musicforprogramming.net/
======
matthew-wegner
Couple of my favorite artists for concentrating music:

e*vax: <http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2pUlD79DCvA>

Geotic: <http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qBeWuBBG0gw>

Xela: <http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0RsdMs-Whlo>

Murcof: <http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=74spJD2oEPg>

Shlohmo: <http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7SokFGXlIHM>

Tycho: <http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mehLx_Fjv_c>

~~~
asksol
If you mention Xela, you should also mention Yasume:
<http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6_SdCPLOkP4>

~~~
matthew-wegner
Agreed! And there are lots of jumping off places in that list (e*vax is Evan
Mast, half of Ratatat, Geotic is Will Wiesenfeld, best known for Baths, etc).

I just want to dump a handful of lesser-known artists to get people started...

------
ecaron
When this was posted 2 weeks ago, I tried to step up and do the hosting with
Amazon's Cloudfront. 72 hours and 3TB later, I sadly acknowledged that I
didn't have the checkbook size to properly meet the download needs.

Since then, @datassette has moved hosting to Dreamhost and they're truly
sticking by their unlimited bandwidth policy. So as much as we typically like
to point out when DH is down or messes up, I think they deserve some public
acknowledgement for doing something right.

~~~
pjscott
The usual solution to this problem, when you're short on cash and need to push
out a lot of gigabytes to a lot of people, is to put up a torrent. They're not
just for piracy!

(Fun fact: if you host files on Amazon S3, it will also generate a torrent
file and handle the seeding and tracking.)

~~~
ecaron
I kept pushing that solution too, largely because I love the "here's another
legal reason for torrent technology" proof that it gives, but it was important
to datassette to be able to directly stream from the site and that isn't
possible with a torrent.

Yes, both a magnet link and a direct link should be offered, and probably will
be soon.

~~~
jcitme
uTorrent allows streams in torrents. Interesting that they haven't made it a
bigger feature, this has a large potential if it becomes a bigger part of the
torrenting user interface. People complain that this stream download is bad
for the peer cloud, but it could work very well if there's a single big server
or two backing everything up- at the same time, taking a lot of bandwidth
pressure off those servers.

------
rads
My favorite programming music:

    
    
      Any of Brian Eno's ambient stuff
      The Field - From Here We Go Sublime
      The Field - Looping State of Mind
      Luomo - Vocalcity
      Boards of Canada - Music Has the Right to Children
      Boards of Canada - Geogaddi
      Pantha Du Prince - Black Noise
      Burial - Untrue

~~~
etcet
Perhaps one day I'll get tired of

    
    
        Vangelis - Blade Runner OST (3CD)
    

but right now it's almost a Pavlovian trigger for me.

~~~
jacquesm
If you like that one check out 'Soil Festivities', it's one of Vangelis least
appreciated albums but I feel it is his best.

------
ggordan
This was posted 2 weeks ago: <http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=3547694>

~~~
Kluny
Yes, but the site collapsed under the load that time, so glad to be reminded!

~~~
jthomp
I was just thinking it was good to see this trending up again. Didn't get to
check it out last time due to the site issues.

------
nikcub
My current coding playlist is:

* Moon OST - Clint Mansell

* Donnie Darko OST - Mansell

* Inception OST - Hans Zimmer

* The Social Network OST - Reznor

* Simple Things - Zero 7

* Melody AM - Royskopp

* Abroreal - The Flashbulb (a lot of his stuff is good)

~~~
there
_Abroreal - The Flashbulb (a lot of his stuff is good)_

benn's _pale blue dot_ is a great ambient album to work to.

<http://bennjordan.bandcamp.com/album/pale-blue-dot>

~~~
nikcub
Thanks - I downloaded everything he has ever done and wasn't sure where to
start

------
robertskmiles
I've experimented with different types of music while working/coding, and I've
found the perfect thing that works well for me, which is _soundtracks from RTS
games_. They're instrumental, vaguely electronic, and specifically designed to
fade into the background and create a general sense of urgency and focus.

If you are a big Starcraft player for example, playing the background music
from Starcraft can create a sort of Pavlovian Response, telling your brain
"You are sitting at a computer carrying out a difficult task which takes a
good deal of focus and mental exertion. This activity is fun and rewarding,
and it is urgent that you do it as well and as quickly as possible."

Give it a try.

tl;dr Soundtracks from RTS games

------
buro9
For classical I like Bach symphonies.

But usually, I find myself incredibly productive when I listen to house music.
My recent discovery has been Maceo Plex and the album "Life Index".

Maceo Plex merges the tracks into a continuous mix, roughly 128bpm, and once
you skip track 1 (a dialogue), the music flows smoothly for a good 90 minutes.

Beyond that, I've always liked Kraftwerk's "Tour de France" for programming
to.

~~~
pivo
Bach symphonies? Are you talking about JS Bach or his sons? I didn't think JS
Bach wrote any symphonies.

~~~
buro9
Johann Christian.

Should've clarified.

------
shocks
I'm a big fan of C418 for programming music: <http://c418.org/>

I also like the indie game music bundles. I posted this a few days ago but it
didn't gain any traction: Game Music Bundle 2!

<http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=3573416>
<http://www.gamemusicbundle.com/>

~~~
jimminy
Thanks for this, I was late on finding out about the first bundle, and didn't
know they had a second one out yet.

~~~
shocks
You're in luck. "For $5 you can grab the "big ten" soundtrack and albums from
the original bundle". :D

------
i_s
The Tron Soundtrack by Daft Punk is amazing for programming.

~~~
dekz
My playlist contains both the Daft Punk Legacy OST and the TRON: Legacy
R3C0NF1GUR3D[1] album which contains various artists remixing the Tron Legacy
album.

[1]: [http://www.amazon.com/Tron-Legacy-
Reconfigured/dp/B004UOE7VA...](http://www.amazon.com/Tron-Legacy-
Reconfigured/dp/B004UOE7VA/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1329561519&sr=8-1)

------
bloch
Loscil: <http://grooveshark.com/#!/search?q=loscil>

~~~
harrylove
Yes. Try the Submers and First Narrows albums, in particular. Every track on
Submers is named for a famous submersible, so you're coding underwater
listening to the plant noise.

If you've ever played Osmos on iOS, you've likely heard "Lucy Dub". It's track
2 on First Narrows.

------
jseban
I hacked together a command line interface using wget, Bash and mpg123:
<https://github.com/jseb/musicforprogramming.net-cli>

------
kittxkat
I found out that I can program best to chillwave, ambient and/or electronic
music, some recommendations:

\- Sobrenadar: <http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rwsAnTzdCNs>,
<http://absentfever.bandcamp.com/album/physeos>

\- СВ Хутор (no idea what that means): <http://sv-hutor.bandcamp.com/album/ep>

\- Goldroom: <http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tKtJhYew4Hk>

\- Casa Del Mirto: <http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RSJ07Aa1W38>

\- Booka Shade, or some other DEEP house-ish stuff

\- Warpaint, best consumed as live performances:
<http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4EWiY9xXrug>

\- TRUST: <http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8tc1xj7Nblc>

\- sloslylove: <http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3IldogOjTxY>

\- Apparat: <http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RyZhzfgXHMk>

\- The National (his deep, deep baritone voice just keeps me somehow
concentrated): <http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YbFWAtFb18k>

\- Blonde Redhead: <http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a7FqUNlEdwA>

------
dekz
I find myself listening to a lot of ambient/drone music while programming
lately. Previously it was more upbeat with Daft Punk Legacy and Reconfigured.
I feel I don't want to be concentrating on the music, but am comforted by
having talk/silence removed.

    
    
       Aerosol - All that is solid melts into air
       Loscii
       NASA voyager recordings - Symphony of the planets
       Toe

------
Karolis_K
I'm usually listening to this one: <http://somafm.com/play/groovesalad>

~~~
plessthanpt05
love somafm! ...a bunch of great stations for programming.

------
hsmyers
For those who prefer radio, try WFMT out of Chicago---be warned, it is
classical 24x7, but chosen and DJed by the best in the business. Easily
available as iTunes->radio-> Classical->WFMT. As a change of pace, 5 hours of
folk music on Saturday Night starting at 7:00 p.m. central time.

------
philjones88
Some of my favourite programming music:

Artist: The Glitch Mob

Daft Punk: Tron Sound Track, Tron legacy reconfigured

Particularly with music from The Glitch Mob I find my focus is more intense
and I only break my current activity when the music finishes. Need to find
more music that gets my mind in the zone like that...

------
Valdemar
Com Truise is fast becoming one of my favorite musicians.

PS: Usually at this point when discussing music for working, somebody has
mentioned "Selected Ambient Works" :)

<http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U-ecyzuMNs0>

------
tutysara
Am I having a Deja vu?

~~~
chunkyslink
I'm biting my tongue right now, trying very hard to stay within the site
rules.

Its not even a very good link. 4 mediocre playlists. Big deal.

Ive been collecting electronic music for 15 years and this trance style music
is quite boring and formulaic.

The web is awash with much better mixes than these all done for free by
professionals.

Here are two you can subscribe to in iTunes (weekly podcasts)

<http://www.residentadvisor.net/podcast.aspx> \- These have been going for
years showcasing many varieties of house and techno.

<http://www.datatransmission.co.uk/Podcast/> UK based outfit again going for
years. They have 2 mixes a week.

Then there is <http://soundcloud.com> \- find you favourite electronic artists
and download their mixes.

The posted page looks a little pathetic compared to these.

~~~
mrdoob2
I disagree. Datassette and Com Truise are seriously good music producers
themselves. And I think both of them and Sunjammer have very good taste and
listen a lot of music to be able to put together this kind of compilations.
Pretty sure you can't find most of what they listen on iTunes.

Matter of taste. Keep that in mind and you'll become more respectful.

~~~
chunkyslink
I listened to all of them and it was commercial tripe. Keep that in mind.

~~~
datassette
Commercial tripe? Lol. You clearly have no idea what you're talking about.

I'm just sharing some nice mixes some friends and I have put together for
working to, and paying actual money to let you listen to them for free. Have a
bit of thought before you mash your banana hands against the keyboard kthx.

~~~
chunkyslink
Dude you have affiliate links all over your site. How is this not commercial ?

~~~
datassette
Because the hosting has cost me over $200 and the affiliate links have brought
in about $20 ?

------
enb
I listened to the Com Truise mix while programming the other day. It was too
distracting, as the music kept changing every 2 or so minutes. Instead I
prefer silence, or the next closest thing, which is the kind of music that
really plays with your sense of time. E.g.

9 Beet Stretch Mirror/Mimir (and other Christoph Heemann works) Charlemagne
Palestines The Necks

I won't bother providing links, as the commonality with these artists is that
their pieces are long (and in the case of the first one, very long), so you
probably won't find any samples of this music that is indicative of the effect
of the whole thing.

------
subb
I usually listen to The Prodigy (<http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gTw2YvutJRA>,
<http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uVefPPr69NU>) or some drum and bass, like
<http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=au_BUnGWquA>. Basically, anything with high
energy, exactly the opposite of what this site suggests. I feel like I'm
typing faster. It's like a race between the song and my fingers.

~~~
davedx
Same here. I think it's very personal at the end of the day. Stigma is an all
time favourite! :)

------
andyking
Where I work, we listen to BBC 6 Music (<http://www.bbc.co.uk/6music>). It's
eclectic enough that no-one gets annoyed with the choice of songs (if you
don't like one, you'll probably like the next) and there's nothing
particularly noisy or distracting on there (loud over-processed pop/dance
music, shouty DJs or ads). There's also far less repetition than on similar
stations.

I'd much rather this, than one person's choice of "concentrating" music. One
man's concentration aid is another man's hell.

------
Historiopode
I personally find The Necks very good for almost any kind of work. They
produce minimal jazz, which I prefer to more distracting music — even if I
might listen to it otherwise, such as electronic.

While their tracks are not available for free, you can find samples here:

<http://www.longarms.net/cdcatalog/detail.php?ID=1809>

<http://www.myspace.com/thenecks>

------
wickedchicken
I really like the design of the site (unusually so) but I am annoyed with the
'aesthetic' part: <http://www.musicforprogramming.net/?c=aesthetic>

"the most effective music to aid prolonged periods of intense concentration
tends to have a mixture of the following qualities:" is too clinical to
describe something as personal and emotional as music...

------
Flow
Ltj Bukem & MC Konrad, good stuff

For example: <http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rFVHjZYoq4Q>

~~~
davedx
Horizons still gives me goose bumps listening to it! Such an amazing vocal
sample :)

Happily surprised by the amount of people posting dnb on this thread to be
honest :)

~~~
Flow
It's the same for me, especially that song gives me goose bumps and I start
thinking about a special part of my past. :)

------
joestringer
I quite enjoy just chucking on a playlist of The Flashbulb
(<http://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=the+flashbulb>).

There tends to be enough ambient, non-lyrical tracks to keep me interested.
Some infrequent breakcore tracks get me amped as either a break or a queue to
think harder :D.

------
simon
The style of music on the one that I downloaded didn't work so well for me. It
was too airy and then there were some vocals.

I don't know what style to ask about. If I like to program to uptempo Jean-
Michel Jarre and extended mixes of Blue Monday by New Order (the only track of
theirs that I am aware that I like), what do I like and where can I get more
of it?

------
theirixhn
Very nice and relaxing music. It's also nice that there is a podcast. But they
could definitely make a simple cue-sheet or track list with song lengths – it
is difficult to find a name for current song. Maybe miss of such metadata is a
weakness of a podcast but at their site only a single track can be found.

------
mrdraper
<http://www.di.fm/chilloutdreams> Totally recommend.

------
PStamatiou
I prefer higher energy music for coding. Stuff like Trance Around the World
(<http://www.trancearoundtheworld.com/>), Jaytech, Myon & Shane 54 and
Tritonal podcasts (all on itunes podcast directory)

------
bizarref00l
Personally, I enjoy Strobotone
<http://www.ideology.de/archives/audio000261.php> also there are other good
Ideology.de artists, that are well suited for "music for programming" IMHO.

------
archivator
You could sign up on Mixcloud and put the mixes there, mixes are kinda their
core speciality.

------
jamesrom
Exactly what I have been looking for. Subscribed.

P.S: I've found that the Portal 2 soundtrack is awesome to code to.
<http://www.thinkwithportals.com/music.php>

------
mdaniel
There is also <http://soundserum.com/> which features a _ton_ of creative
commons licensed music (3.5GB of it, based on the torrent they provide).

------
tacogordito
Redditunes is good too.

<http://www.redditunes.com/?g=Ambient>

<http://www.redditunes.com/?g=Chill>

------
ubojan
Song from "Hobbit" trailer - "Misty Mountains" on loop:
<http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7tOo2OMUhB8>

------
porkbird
Anyone into contemporary classics? I really enjoy piano and cello music while
coding, like Ludovico Einaudi, Brian Crain, Julia Kent, Zoe keating etc.

~~~
andolanra
I have recently become quite fond of Arvo Pärt and other classical minimalist
composers, largely because I like the texture of piano and strings with the
simplicity of minimalism while I'm working, e.g.
<https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7vdgZAJVnes>

------
pbiggar
I've been using these on and off since they were posted the first time. Sadly,
a few of them have speech in them, which ruined my concentration.

------
f4stjack
Feth me, it seems I am the only one who listens to classic heavy metal gods
like Iron Maiden and AC/DC while chugging out code...

~~~
jamroom
You're not the only one - Maiden's Powerslave is a regular in my "coding"
playlist. That album flat out rocks.

~~~
f4stjack
Ha! I agree! And what a coincidence, I was listening to Rime of the Ancient
Mariner when I saw your post...

------
adman65
It's called electronic music. Trance preferred.

~~~
finne
<http://pure.fm/> The progressive channel in particular does to for me, but
they have excellent sets on all their channels.

------
pederb72
I recommend DJ River's Ambient Mixes: <http://www.djriver.com/>

------
spicyxtreme
hey odddogmedia! would love to work together somehow. we're created
<http://www.attictv.com> and it would be great if we could somehow use your
compilations :D is there any way to get in touch?

------
switz
Phish is perfect for programming. If you like rock, jazz, classical, etc give
it a try.

------
plessthanpt05
this chiptunes station is pretty great:
[http://tunein.com/tuner/?StationId=127100&](http://tunein.com/tuner/?StationId=127100&);

------
cysun
di.fm (just pick an ambiental stream) and/or simplynoise.com and/or
www.rainymood.com

------
leon_
if you're not that into emo/hippster music try out <http://www.ektoplazm.com/>
\- great music for coding.

