Ask HN: Music while coding • Hacker News Board

Re: Ask HN: Music while coding

#111

Post by aufreak3 » Sun, Jul 18, 2010, 5:04 PM UTC

I prefer silence for zoning in ... the quieter the better, not even humming air conditioners if possible.

If I do feel I need some help to zone in, hip hop works best for me (Eminem's 8 mile album is my fav). I can't listen to classical music and concentrate on something else. Impossible. .. and songs with good lyrics are equally distracting .. but since English isn't my first language, I can only cursorily follow hip hop lyrics and so I quickly fall into listening to the words as sounds without meaning .. and the beat goes on.

Re: Ask HN: Music while coding

#112

Post by Gonsalu » Sun, Jul 18, 2010, 5:07 PM UTC

almost wrote: post #80

d0m wrote: post #78

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's still interesting to read comments, find new artist and even get the opinion of new HN-ers. Also, it's kind of contradictory since while this question is on the front page, lots of people upvote this tired-of-this-question-because-it-has-been-asked-already-10-times comment.

I just assumed that if people are interested in reading this thread they'll also be interested in the large amount of previous posts asking the exact same thing. Or maybe people just like telling others what music they like and aren't particularly interested in reading the same, I don't no.

*know.

Re: Ask HN: Music while coding

#113

Post by ewams » Sun, Jul 18, 2010, 5:13 PM UTC

Isis

Re: Ask HN: Music while coding

#114

Post by sirwitti » Sun, Jul 18, 2010, 5:26 PM UTC

that´s funny. for me it´s just the other way round: if there´s music while i´m coding i can´t concentrate very well and always listen to the music instead of coding. :) but it´s possible that this is because i´m a musician too. i always wonder why i can´t blend it out while coding. (i can blend it out while driving a car e.g.) has anybody else similar experiences?

Re: Ask HN: Music while coding

#115

Post by golwengaud » Sun, Jul 18, 2010, 5:42 PM UTC

jgg wrote: post #83

Bach is almost exclusively my favorite classical composer. If you want some of his music, check out classiccat.net. It makes great programming music, but some of it is worth listening to when you're not distracted. (-: I also enjoy Aphex Twin (all of the similar bands, like Boards of Canada and Autechre, not as much). I actually wrote one my of first web applications listening to "Selected Ambient Works 85-92". Ratat…

re: Bach: agreed. I've found that really listening to Bach -- even starting to understand his use of counterpoint -- requires enormous concentration, but is totally worthwhile; for that reason, it's easy to tune out when I just need some background noise.

Re: Ask HN: Music while coding

#116

Post by treblig » Sun, Jul 18, 2010, 5:45 PM UTC

Steve Reich is rhythmic, repetitive, and very cool. Highly recommended.

Re: Ask HN: Music while coding

#117

Post by rabidsnail » Sun, Jul 18, 2010, 5:56 PM UTC

Boredoms (especially Super Roots 9)

Fuck Buttons (especially Tarot Sport)

Hella

Giraffes? Giraffes!

Lightning Bolt

I used to listen to digitally imported but now I find most of the stuff they play (even on the psytracne/goa station) annoyingly repetitive.

Re: Ask HN: Music while coding

#118

Post by levesque » Sun, Jul 18, 2010, 5:58 PM UTC

truebosko wrote: post #43

Try some post-rock: - Tortoise - Godspeed You! Black Emperor - Thee Silver Mt. Zion - This Will Destroy You - Do Make Say Think - Explosions in the Sky .. To name a few Very melodic, quiet, soothing, but also explosive at times.

I'll add to this list :

- The Red Sparowes (their first 2 albums)

- The Redneck Manifesto

Re: Ask HN: Music while coding

#119

Post by levesque » Sun, Jul 18, 2010, 6:00 PM UTC

b3b0p wrote: post #77

Usually silence, but when I do listen to music and try to work it's one of the following: 1. Final Fantasy, Video Game soundtrack, OCRemix, or similar (current favorites: Kindgom Hearts, Capcom Music Generation Family Computer Soundtracks, both Jet Set Radio soundtracks) 2. Pandora, my Quick Mix, which is basically a radio station for every band I enjoy old and new (examples: Tom Petty, Spoon, Modest Mouse, The Kille…

Pandora is no longer playing in Canada, it is such a nice service. Much cleaner and more pleasant to use than the alternatives like Deezer.

Re: Ask HN: Music while coding

#120

Post by jsulak » Sun, Jul 18, 2010, 6:04 PM UTC

mark_h wrote: post #35

I'm a big fan of Zoe Keating for coding music, and as a bonus she recently switched to bandcamp so there's quite a lot of it streaming: http://music.zoekeating.com/ Quite a lot of layers to concentrate on, but for some reason it also just works to get me in the zone.

Thanks for the pointer. I'm just now giving her music a listen and quite like it.