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Ask YC: What music do you listen to when programming?
11 points by sspencer on Jan 17, 2008 | hide | past | favorite | 61 comments
This has probably been asked before, but I am curious about the musical tastes of all the rest of you, having noted very similar tastes in the "Ask YC: Books" thread.

I'll start us off:

Mashups: http://bootiesf.com http://djearworm.com http://partyben.com

Also all manner of classical: Bach, Mozart, Strauss, Beethoven, Debussy

And last but not least, some excellent indie radio: http://www.bagelradio.com/blog/index.html




Rain. It's probably strange, but ambient rain sounds are quite relaxing.

If anyone is interested in this, go here: http://www.hypnosishealthcare.com/rainsounds.html

Choose "Rain MP3 Download". Twelve bucks gets you an hour of rain without any background noise at all.

Note that you'll need to play with Winamp's equalizer a bit to make it sound great through headphones. The Full Bass preset is perfect.


There's also a free program that does that, along with various other background noises:

http://www.peterhirschberg.com/mysoftware.html (Aire Freshener)


Awesome! Thank you. That program is really fantastic.


http://www.archive.org/details/JacquesRicherCountryRain


None. Interferes with my concentration.


Try DragonForce.


I will. Just in general - not for programming.

Part of my problem with music and programming is - that I like distracting and complex music.


I usually listen to only one track in repeat (for about an hour), one that I'm very familiar with, so i don't get distracted by it (it may or not have vocals)

I've notice that by doing so i stay in the same mind frame all the time.

Also, it is good to choose a track that puts you in the right mind frame, examples: "Chicago" by Sufjan Stevens puts me in an optimistic and somehow upbeat state, "A Warm Place" by Nine Inch Niles puts me in a more introverted-deep thinking state


On another note, do you guys wear headphones/earbuds or use external speakers? For me, I really find external speakers distracting, while headphones suck me into the code.


Headphones, but mainly because part of the use of me listening to music is to block out other sounds.


Speakers. I don't want anything "touching" me when I'm doing my thing.


http://www.gradolabs.com/product_pages/sr60.htm


Earcup headphones all the way. Noise canceling is an added bonus.


I'm incredibly glad my last employer bought me a pair of Bose Quiet Comfort headphones for Christmas. Probably the most comfortable headphones I've ever worn.


I alternate between classical (I like Mozart and Beethoven and some others) and electronic/techno dance music. I can't have vocals; it breaks my flow.


I'm exactly the same way but I've found that sighs j-pop fits in this as well. If I can't understand the words then it doesn't break my flow. German techno also seems to work.


I like music with nonsense lyrics for the same reason, i.e. cocteau twins, sigur ros, dead can dance. Otherwise, ambient stuff like explosions in the sky, god is an astronaut, mono (the japanese mono).


Try some Godspeed You! Black Emperor


I hear you on the vocals; your brain might work like mine...I never forget a conversation and I can't tune them out no matter how trivial.


I've scientifically confirmed that The Talking Heads made the best hacking music known to man.

Aside from that, I listen to a lot of Of Montreal, other indie pop, some electronic and movie soundtracks (There Will Be Blood and The Fountain OSTs are both great).


Ditto Talking Heads. Also Depeche Mode and Tears for Fears.


Is there a better song for working on a startup than "Everybody Wants To Rule The World"?


No.


http://www.last.fm/user/bootload/charts/?charttype=overall&#...


I find my collection of Punk/Hardcore suits me best for programming. It keeps my mind alert, and works even better than caffeine in some cases.


I prefer to enjoy the silence.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hd7y6A-5uTY


Groove Salad: http://somafm.com/

Cliqhop (also somaFM) if the problems are complex.


I'm fairly partial to the drone of a tanpura/tambura/tamboura (a bit like a sitar, only fretless). I visited with this swami for for a bit, and he gave me a recording as a background for Japa practice - it's incredibly powerful concentration music.


http://www.thesixtyone.com


Usually I listen to stuff that allows me to think... some chilled out stuff like Stereolab, Free Design, Telepopmusik, Thief, Portishead, Jazzanova, Forss, Yesterdays New Quintet, Wahoo, and more stuff like that.


Silence! The voices tell me what to type.


Well, I write rather than program (well, technically I do both, but I suck pretty badly at the latter) but I like Mahler, especially as conducted by Bernstein.

Rhapsody has a phenomenal classical selection.


Any music that my brain doesn't try to process. Preserves concentration while keeping out noise.

I'm currently listening to Nujabes - Modal Soul. It's a mix of hiphop/jazz and mostly instrumental.


Half the time I listen to nothing... the other half involves NIN, Tool, Deftones, Massive Attack, Glassjaw, Ska-P, and other music roughly like that.


Recently, a lot of movie soundtracks and instrumentals; lyrics divert my attention. BSG, 28 Weeks, moody/epic stuff. Not sure why, but it works.


Lyrics really break my concentration too. I like electronica for that reason -- it doesn't have vocals and it's got a nice motivating beat.

Try Aphex Twin for some really good stuff.


I really like Hans Zimmer's soundtracks: "The Thin Red Line" and "Gladiator" are both particularly good.


Yes, Gladiator... I meant to include that as well.


For classicals I find light-hearted sonatas and chamber music good for concentration. Symphonies are usually too distracting.

Other times I like the "ambient" channel on www.pandora.com. A while ago when I was hooked on Flight Simulator I had a Boeing 747 running in the background while I worked. The engine sound + distant radio chatters produce a calm atmosphere.


Lots of things, but predominantly hip-hop and rock. If I'm in "discovery mode," I'll use Songza or Last.FM.


I think I learned more about music on this thread than by listening to radio on the last year. I will try some of the artists mentioned here later on. I usually listen to internet radio. Music doesn't really bother me, but silence does. Silence makes any noise seem like a thunder to me.


I use Sennheiser inner ear headphones and Itunes tells me that I mostly listen to:

Punk and music between the 70's and 90's.


Explosions in the Sky


I don't listen to anything while I'm coding. It's too distracting. Actually, I blacklisted the sound drivers on my work laptop to eliminate any possibility of a random program making noise while I'm trying to work.

Though, that does limit the utility of YouTube.


Stuff I've heard a lot before, so that I'm not paying much attention to it. Fishbone!


Depends.

Planning/Thoughts stage: Classical, Jazz

Implementation Stage with Nothing to Explore: RnB, Rock

Exploratory: nothing, flow issues


How 'bout taking the next step and making a shared Pandora station for hacking?


Not a bad idea at all. I'd need a pretty eclectic library to please everyone here, though.


If you're into ambient/chillout, you might want to try jon hopkins or blue states. Kind of "elevator music", still, it works for me ;-) I'm also a big fan of last.fm in discovery mode for that matter.


Mostly classical (especially Bach) and jazz (Dave Brubeck, Pat Metheny, Abraham Laboriel, Miles Davis, et al)

Very rarely anything with lyrics, as it tends to disrupt my concentration.


Motorhead, Accept, Iron Maiden -- dedicated to programmers :)


http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=61831


Not everyone listens to their usual genres when coding.


headphones, mostly everything, but especially daft punk, Tiesto, lots of blues and stuff too.


Explosions in the Sky


lately I listen to Naruto Soundtrack :)


Shulman http://www.aleph-zero.info/


Cliqhop at somafm.com


Jamiroquai


Soulja Boy Tell 'Em.


http://myplaylist.biz :-)

I made this lol




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