Ask HN: What do you listen to when you want to be productive?

Sometimes I like listening to music I’ve loved since I was in high school, so the album from the movie “Heavy Metal”, or other heavy metal bands from that time, sometimes music from bands like Yaz (Yazoo in the UK) or Depeche Mode, or other work by Vince Clark. Sometimes I’m in a Rush or Styx mood.

I have also discovered that there is a category of music called “instrumental heavy metal”, but I have not yet done much exploring there. I found out about it through the web comic author Jeph Jacques (https://questionablecontent.net/), who also has a one-man-band called “Deathmøle”.

In college, I found I could study best by listening to Johan Sebastian Bach pipe organ concertos. But for being productive in a work-type setting, I find that it works better to have more up tempo music whose words I know like the back of my hand.

I enjoy silence, but when listening to music it has to be something without vocals. It can be any genre and depends a lot on my mood (ambient, techno, soundtracks, classical, etc) but it can't have any vocals on it. People talking or singing (in a language that I understand) doesn't allow me to think clearly.

For the same reason I can't listen to podcasts when working.

I used to listen to instrumental ambient music all the time while working. But know I prefer the silence. Especially when I want to be productive. I think your brain has to process the music in the background and thus use up some of the valuable processing power.

both sides of the argument