Ask HN: What do you listen to while programming? | Hacker News Reader

Ask HN: What do you listen to while programming?

26 points_qbjt37 comments

Simple question, what do you typically listen to while writing code? Music, podcasts, silence? Also, does it depends on what you're working on? Thanks and have a great day.

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It definitely depends on my mood and what I'm doing.

My default is Lindsey Stirling[1]. Her music is up-tempo instrumental. I'll also put on a Pandora station seeded on Natalie McMaster.

Sometimes I'm doing something where I'm spending a bunch of time waiting on the machine and I will listen to a history audiobook. Recommendations:

- Guns of August by Barbara Tuchman

- Souls of Black Folk by WEB DuBois

- to answer the Question DuBois raises at the end: Guns, Germs, and Steel by Jared Diamond

- 1776 by David McCulloch

- Alexander Hamilton by Ron Chernow

- not history, but if you've only read Lord of the Rings on paper, you really should listen to the Audiobook.

Also lately I've been repeatedly listening to the songs from a musical about a certain bastard orphan son of a whore...

[1] https://m.youtube.com/user/lindseystomp

Digitally Imported (http://www.di.fm/)

They have great stations, some nice liquid DNB will get you into flow

I feel like video game music is perfect for coding - it's not designed to draw too much attention to itself and provides a nice vibe. Rainwave.cc is a great (free) stream for that.

Other than that, jazz/classical when I want to relax, electronic music when I'm in the zone.

I love listening to The Books when I'm really trying to focus and concentrate. They are disjointed and most of their "lyrics" are just snippets from old TV / movie / radio shows so there is nothing for my brain to latch onto and follow along. I can just focus on the problem at hand. Might not be for everyone but once I found them I knew I had struck gold. I've been listening to them for about 5 years now.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZHNArEfBKdc&list=RDEMJl2R73T...

You can also find them on spotify.

Slim Thug, Future, Pusha T and some real raw shit from the streets of Chicago, Atlanta, and Houston. Anyone else feel me?

EDIT: I'm just being honest. This is what I listen to. I really don't care if you downvote me.

Why would anybody downvote? While I only care for Pusha T out of that list, it doesn't seem out of the ordinary. Not a lot of rap fans on HN I see :/

Mostly white noise and sounds of rain and thunderstorms.

If I'm doing something more mundane I'll often play some PluralSight or some programming podcast in the background. I've learned to tune out the talking until something interesting comes up.

Perhaps because it's playing at 1.5x speed my brain doesn't quite perceive it as a human voice. Most music distracts me, perhaps due to my musical background.

Not sure, but it works for me.

Mostly the best thrash metal ever - Overkill, then some Exodus and Havok. Also The Offspring (pop-punk), The Lively Ones (1960s surf rock).

'Forgotten Memories' Instrumental Chill Mix - https://soundcloud.com/fluidified/forgotten-memories

I don't quite like the mixing but it has a good selection. Take a look at the artists involved.

Also, podcasts while coding? That sounds like a disaster...

http://musicforprogramming.net

This is my mainstay nowadays. RITES (#24) shows 63 plays so far and that is low.

Some don't appeal to me on the first listen, but they really do as I code and suddenly realize I love what I am hearing.

I built a curated radio station for myself and friends - http://voyager.fm. Depending on the mood, I can be selective of the music I work with, but most of the time I just want to turn on something and go.

https://soundcloud.com/kaltblutmagazine/hanz-mix-for-kaltblu... ~ 180 bpm at parts

Focus@will works for me. Some free samples are available at youtube.

You can choose your style, speed, desired level of focus etc. it is paid service but at project webpage is available 30 days free period.

Web: www.focusatwill.com

Almost always silence. Sometimes if I'm having a bad mood of some kind, I'll put on something that's soothing or uplifting for me, basically just any of my favorite music that isn't too sentimental or lyrically interesting... but mostly, I find it easiest to concentrate in silence.

(This makes it annoying to work in environments where the only way to not overhear conversations is to put on music in headphones...)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=60ItHLz5WEA

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yDLKVOShCG8

Been trying Vaporwave / http://reddit.com/r/mallsoft lately.

Eg https://drcodeini.bandcamp.com/album/ussia-ctetnka

I always listen to music while I work. If I am learning new things or editing a manuscript, I turn the volume quite low and only play music that I am very familiar with. Here are some albums/sets I listen to most often:

Rodrigo Amarante - Cavalo

Townes Van Zandt - Townes Van Zandt

Solomun Boiler Room DJ Set (YouTube)

Nightmares on Wax Boiler Room DJ Set (YouTube)

Goa trance. No lyrics, not too hardcore.

Am goa head too. Have nearly a 48 hours worth of tunes locally. Any favorite producers? Am always on the look out for new or unheard of twisted bass and acid beats.

Good old death metal.

It's easier to answer what I'm listening today: an indie video game 'midi' soundtrack -- http://tobyfox.bandcamp.com/

Ennio morricone's music.

From 'Fist full of dollars' to 'The hateful eight':

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z0pSUnnzoDM

Fans. The sounds of fans (mostly from power supply) from PC.

I quite often listen to loud film scores - think Inception/Hans Zimmer. Google Play Music has a good radio station for it and I imagine the others do too!

Lots of Tipper, Philip Glass, and some nervous_testpilot. Also lots of Spotify's Discover Weekly.

Alas, ambulances, construction machinery, and general traffic all too often. Silence for preference.

90s jams. Alternating between mid 90s R&B and Hip-Hop and Shoegaze / Britpop bands.

It is hard for me to be focus while coding with music, so I prefer the quiet, no music.

My own music mostly. Visiting old favorite tracks or the new ones in the works.

There's nothing like eating your own dog food :)

Nothing but classical music. But that's what I listen to all the time.

Tycho or Carbon Based Lifeforms. Both are quite good.

Smooth Jazz. Most of the time, instrumental only.

Listened to dnb mostly 2000-2008, some metal, more recently chillwave stuff like Tycho. The name of the game in coding work is to control anxiety and stress long term. I also listen to this week in tech and sometimes other related podcasts.

Music without lyrics or sometimes with lyrics in a language I don't understand.

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