Music when coding is a MUST!
Preferably a band you love/like.
Ask YC: What music do you listen to when hacking?
11–20 of 68 posts
Re: Ask YC: What music do you listen to when hacking?
#12I think this has been discussed a couple of times here: http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=61831 http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=99936
As new users sign up to HN, and older submissions drop down the list, it's the sort of question which is apt to come up a couple of times.
Re: Ask YC: What music do you listen to when hacking?
#13When I was still working in an office, I found listening to film scores, in particular, very helpful in shutting out the noise of the office.
Re: Ask YC: What music do you listen to when hacking?
#14Maybe someone should create a Hacker News (or hacking music) group on last.fm?
My hacking music preferences:
Re: Ask YC: What music do you listen to when hacking?
#15Mostly instrumental music, primarily some type of jazz or classical.
If I am in a noisy working environment, then I keep the music going pretty much constantly, to block out extraneous noise. In general, the more quiet and peaceful my environment is, the less music I listen to while working.
Re: Ask YC: What music do you listen to when hacking?
#16All kinds, the only time I avoid music and keep silence is when I have to do reading/writing stuff. Probably the same reason I find reading and writing to be more of a chore and coding/designing more enjoyable.
Go for instrumental music, it doesn't activate the part of your verbal part of your brain. Essentially to hear singing (or talking) your brain mimics it, however when you're trying to read/write you've got two processes and only one processor to put it through. You can struggle through, but not nearly as well as running them solo. Also, just go onto TPB or usenet and download some Beethoven or Wagner. It's 100% legal…
What also works is recorded rain sounds, and James Horner (A Beautiful Mind soundtrack). Loud enough to drown out the talking, but doesn't interfere with the thought process.
Re: Ask YC: What music do you listen to when hacking?
#17I tend to listen to something from the death metal genre
http://www.newmetalarmy.com/band/unleashed
or maybe in the thrash genre
Re: Ask YC: What music do you listen to when hacking?
#18NIN - a downward spiral. Daft Punk - Alive. Timbaland. Kraftwerk, Chemical Brothers, Radiohead.
Re: Ask YC: What music do you listen to when hacking?
#19Dup. See http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=61831 and http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=99936
It's a dup, but I think lots of people don't mind that. I for one don't mind seeing this pop up every few weeks if people suggest new songs.
Toward that end, here is some music I haven't seen mentioned here before. List of Demands, and Black Stacy, both by Saul Williams (see also http://niggytardust.com/, which many here may have heard of). He's on tour right now, if any want to see him live.
Re: Ask YC: What music do you listen to when hacking?
#20Trance! http://s-torm.com/forum/dload.php?action=category&cat_id...
ASOT, nice, I listen to that as well :-)