You are listening to New York – police radio and ambient music

Thanks, and thanks to mkal_tsr for the link to Mission Control, that sounds like fantastic music for work! Here is a list of my go-to music for work:

* (mandatory, already seen multiple times on HN) http://musicforprogramming.net/

* Kruder & Dorfmeister - The K+D Sessions. Fantastic mix.

* Apparat - The whole discography, but especially Silizium, and Krieg und Frieden. Both mix deliciously electronic and violin/cello.

Two more recommendations:

http://ambientsleepingpill.com/ and the classic http://www.sleepbot.com/ambience/broadcast/

Trentemoller Radio on pandora is pretty good for coding.

Subdued, but steady beats to maintain pace, with a touch of atmospheric electronics.

My mistake, I meant ambient as in "ambiance sound" not the musical style (less chatter, more music with melody).

But excellent recommendation nonetheless (listening to the flashbulb on reviews.headphonecommute.com) !

Thanks!

It's available to download at archive.org: https://archive.org/details/ird059

> knowing so helps

I understand that some people can't help but listen to the voice, but for me, it is difficult for me to hear details and it quickly turns into background noise.

Air Traffic Control feeds can be easier to let blur, since they lack any sense of drama. They do tend to be less busy late at night, though.

I think this confusion is a stereotypical introvert vs extrovert thing. The interrupting human voices and drama distract and exhaust some, while focusing and energizing others.

I can listen to music while doing grunt work, but I need silence to concentrate. There may be a language issue WRT "coding" where design and implementation needs silence, minor optimization and bug fixing is possible, maybe more enjoyable, with music.

There may be more factors beyond these two.

Sometimes it does. It depends. For instance, if I'm listening to NPR, Democracy Now, or other news shows and podcasts, those are usually too distracting. I can't get any real work or reading done if it's too engaging. "Silence" can be golden. Then there are other forms of vocal information that seem to recede well enough in the background yet remain there just enough to decide whether to actively listen.

It might be put in terms of working around others. Ideally, the noise others make will enter subconsciousness enough to concentrate yet remain aware of anything 'worth' listening to or someone snapping in my face. Basically, you just have to experiment on yourself. Do what feels right for you. If someone's constantly fighting for concentration against surroundings, then that person needs to change surroundings. And moods constantly change.

Emotions are humanity. Life is real life. Moreover, good movies are far more than mere fiction or the sum of their parts. To people with vivid imaginations and deep empathy, any [medium of information], "fact" or fiction, powerful enough, can be experienced viscerally as with "real life" even if only in that moment.

You might be able to work around that by using dispatches in a lunguage you don't know. Russian or Swedish police radio chatter would have similar sense of urgency, etc, but you wouldn't know the specific Bad Things that are happening.

For me the police radio is usually just unintelligible chatter with lots of distortion and noise. I could maybe understand a word or two, but that would require concentrating on it. Now it just creates an atmosphere.

I said it partly distills a spirit of cities that never sleep, not of sleep. :) Not everyone lives in dense urban areas. And many who do don't want to listen to the actual noise of their environment. It's often distracting. That's the point of setting a mood. It's escapism. You try to choose how you want to feel. Beyond altering the immediate space around oneself via sound, lighting, scents, physical comfort, scenery, and ambiance in general, one may want to remain tuned into the larger, active world through real-time streams yet not have it be distracting. That could come through web sites, visuals, music, television, radio, shortwave, or any other medium that creates a sense of 'living information.' It can be comforting. It can be greatly humanizing.

One may be deep in the heart of a sardine-packed city, feeling disconnected. No setting is exclusive to the shaping of one's feelings except to those who may not care to shape their own positive perception.

> It then completely removes actual humanity and suffering, and replaces it with dispassionate narration of management of human activity.

It depends on the person being affected. Speaking only for myself, it's the opposite of dispassion. Sure, I love dark, dystopic, cyberpunk moods with the best of 'em. Personally, however, and I'm sure this rings true for others here, I'm always left with overwhelming sense of hopefulness in those moments of unease. It's a feeling that humanity can come together to resist and overcome obstacles. It's entirely empathetic and passionate. On the topic of police scanners, indeed, upsetting moments occur. Suffering occurs. Humorous moments occur too. It's interesting. My constant worry and sincere hope goes out to people in need even at the mere sound of an ambulance. The presence of critical information is not fuel of sadism. It's fuel of concern, curiosity, connectedness, and awareness.

News functions greatly in this respect. Heavy news affects those who are willing to bear witness to it. It's humanity's suffering. News of the world's plight causes a rollercoaster of emotions. As much as it brings pain, shock, tears, pessimism, and cynicism, it so too brings cause, unity, hope, struggle, and awareness. The electricity of urgency has its own presence regardless of how different people objectify it. People who tune-out of it altogether could be equally objectifying, depending on their attitude and perception. Tuning out can be healthy just the same. Emotions are 'pluralistic' amid extremes of peace, fear, love, happiness, and curiosity. Lightning, though terrifying, remains electrifying.

> That said, I have code to do... so on with the suffering!

Hilarious! I'm entering a more upbeat mood now. A mix of violent gangsta rap blended with the life-affirming moans of highway traffic will suffice. A.B.C.

Boom, purchased!

Wow great to hear.

I've been learning Ableton Live 9 on my Mac, along with a Push controller, which I can't recommend enough.