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Ask HN: What do you listen to focus when you're working

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Ask HN: What do you listen to focus when you're working

#1

Post by shovel »

What do you listen to when you're working that keeps you super-focused?

For me, I have a few different goto sources - white noise tracks (noisli), video game soundtracks, and movie scores (esp Hans Zimmer) that I listen to on repeat. Sometimes I listen to a single deep house track over and over, and I can't stop writing.

I'd love your perspective.

I'm researching for an article I'm writing on flow state and productivity.

Re: Ask HN: What do you listen to focus when you're working

#2

Post by eyan »

Been on this search lately. I found Thievery Corporation, Sounds From The Ground, Nightmares on Wax and Tycho fits the bill nicely.

Brian Eno's Music for Airports to get me into the mood for code. If this doesn't then http://rainymood.com. :)

For physical prep, loosening my body helps a lot before a long session and in between sessions.

Re: Ask HN: What do you listen to focus when you're working

#4

Post by niftich »

For this purpose, I too listen to music mostly without vocals, or if vocals are present, they are the simplistic, melodic sort found in the likes of vocal trance.

Genres like trance help me focus because of a typical track's long duration, repetitive structure, and grandiose buildups.

When I need a little bit more stimulation, I switch to a less regular, more punchy EDM genres like electro house, or something with dubstep-inspired drops.

Re: Ask HN: What do you listen to focus when you're working

#6

Post by dalke »

I've found that music distracts me. When I need to be super-focused, I can't have any music on in the background.

I can listen to some songs when I need focus, but not super-focus. For those, I tend to listen to the same thing on repeat for several days or a week in a row, similar to you.

Some examples are: Koyaanisqatsi, Ian Anderson's "The Secret Language Of Birds" album, and Tool's Ænima.

Re: Ask HN: What do you listen to focus when you're working

#7

Post by selmat »

For me, as was already mentioned, silence is the best one. This is why i prefer home-office. All other "solutions" induce headache to me.

In noisy environment can be helpful brown noise. I also tried focus@will (sample is here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5OGJRx76zLY). From my experience 45-60 minutes is maximum.

If I need high focus and think about solution music is just another source of distraction for me. As background for tedious tasks it depends on my mood.

Re: Ask HN: What do you listen to focus when you're working

#8

Post by matthewvincent »

For me, absolute silence is always my most productive environment. You might find throwing in some earplugs or noise cancelling earbuds (Bose makes some great ones) to be a productivity boost.

Edit: More to the actual question, my favorite album to work to is "Immunity" by Jon Hopkins.

Re: Ask HN: What do you listen to focus when you're working

#9

Post by punchclockhero »

Depends on the nature of the work. In my data entry job, high BPM genres like schranz and hardstyle were a lifesaver - kept me working at a good pace and not falling asleep on the keyboard, but are very distracting for thoughtful work like programming. Got recommended some great ambient recently and it works best for that kind of work.
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