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Music to Let you Concentrate

focusatwill.com

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Re: Music to Let you Concentrate

#111

Post by quesera »

dhimes wrote: post #106
shrikant wrote: post #103

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I strongly agree with this. Even if it's only ambient music (mentioned here: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=5872706 ), I still use it only for situations involving mundane things like documentation. Otherwise I greatly prefer silence. My SO though, is exactly the opposite. She just can't get any work done in silence, and needs relatively fast music with vocals. Although it does need to be music that she's alrea…

For me, 'white noise' - type sounds- sounds of rainfall, waves, etc. [1]- help me focus. I usually work with nothing, bu one day when working in a noisy environment I discovered that putting headphones on and listening to 'sound of nature' tracks worked very well. So well, in fact, that now when I get stuck or am just having trouble focusing for any reason I do this. [1] I think this is called 'brown noise' these day…

> [1] I think this is called 'brown noise' these days.

Yikes. What terrible branding!

"Green noise" is better, sort of honest, and obvious.

Re: Music to Let you Concentrate

#112

Post by obtino »

dhimes wrote: post #106
shrikant wrote: post #103

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I strongly agree with this. Even if it's only ambient music (mentioned here: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=5872706 ), I still use it only for situations involving mundane things like documentation. Otherwise I greatly prefer silence. My SO though, is exactly the opposite. She just can't get any work done in silence, and needs relatively fast music with vocals. Although it does need to be music that she's alrea…

For me, 'white noise' - type sounds- sounds of rainfall, waves, etc. [1]- help me focus. I usually work with nothing, bu one day when working in a noisy environment I discovered that putting headphones on and listening to 'sound of nature' tracks worked very well. So well, in fact, that now when I get stuck or am just having trouble focusing for any reason I do this. [1] I think this is called 'brown noise' these day…

Brown noise helps me concentrate a fair bit. Personally, I've got SimplyNoise generating brown noise in oscillation mode which sounds a bit like waves.

Re: Music to Let you Concentrate

#114

Post by xentronium »

dhimes wrote: post #106
shrikant wrote: post #103

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I strongly agree with this. Even if it's only ambient music (mentioned here: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=5872706 ), I still use it only for situations involving mundane things like documentation. Otherwise I greatly prefer silence. My SO though, is exactly the opposite. She just can't get any work done in silence, and needs relatively fast music with vocals. Although it does need to be music that she's alrea…

For me, 'white noise' - type sounds- sounds of rainfall, waves, etc. [1]- help me focus. I usually work with nothing, bu one day when working in a noisy environment I discovered that putting headphones on and listening to 'sound of nature' tracks worked very well. So well, in fact, that now when I get stuck or am just having trouble focusing for any reason I do this. [1] I think this is called 'brown noise' these day…

White and brown noises are slightly different.

You could check them out here http://simplynoise.com/

Re: Music to Let you Concentrate

#115

Post by lolcraft »

michaelgrafl wrote: post #48

Justin Bieber slowed down by 800% makes for some nice ambient noise. Someone should assemble a collection of lame pop music that sounds awesome when piped through Paul's Stretch. Would listen.

Minor detail someone might not know: a part of the Inception soundtrack (which is also great ambient) was made with that technique. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UVkQ0C4qDvM

Those who have seen the movie and its plot device will know why this is a brilliant idea on so many levels.

Re: Music to Let you Concentrate

#116

Post by prawks »

rednukleus wrote: post #18
pepr wrote: post #2

"... two out of three of people like to listen to music while they work, study or read but it’s difficult to find and manage music that consistently works well for this purpose." Precisely! I like to listen to ambient music when working and constantly trying to find new music for this purpose is quite a hassle.

Can you recommend a Top 5 ambient albums for working? EDIT: Thanks for all the suggestions!

Adding another suggestion, a little late:

Helios (Keith Kenniff, aka Goldmund) - Caesura

Re: Music to Let you Concentrate

#117

Post by b0rsuk »

I noticed a while ago that some music needs active listening[1], while other kinds[2] don't distract me.

1 - Rock, various kinds of progressive music, anything with nontrivial melody

2 - ambient, more monotonous music, music with uniform volume

I'd love to say I've started dividing my music collection according to this criteria - but I've been too lazy so far. Sorry about that. I'll try once again.

Re: Music to Let you Concentrate

#118

Post by michael_h »

dhimes wrote: post #106
shrikant wrote: post #103

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I strongly agree with this. Even if it's only ambient music (mentioned here: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=5872706 ), I still use it only for situations involving mundane things like documentation. Otherwise I greatly prefer silence. My SO though, is exactly the opposite. She just can't get any work done in silence, and needs relatively fast music with vocals. Although it does need to be music that she's alrea…

For me, 'white noise' - type sounds- sounds of rainfall, waves, etc. [1]- help me focus. I usually work with nothing, bu one day when working in a noisy environment I discovered that putting headphones on and listening to 'sound of nature' tracks worked very well. So well, in fact, that now when I get stuck or am just having trouble focusing for any reason I do this. [1] I think this is called 'brown noise' these day…

I use:

  sox -r 48000 -n -d synth pink
with noise canceling headphones and a relatively low volume.

I also tend to listen to:

  sox -n -d synth sine %-5 sine %-14 vol 0.5
...but everyone else seems to think it's incredibly annoying.

Re: Music to Let you Concentrate

#119

Post by brixon »

It's different for everyone and you should try out different things. For me, a 2 disc collection of Willie Nelson helps the most since it is a moderate tempo and I have heard it so many times that it is not distracting. Also, when the 2 CDs are done, I know that I should stand up and stretch.

Re: Music to Let you Concentrate

#120

Post by b0rsuk »

Once upon a time Red Alert (1), one of first RTS games, won Game Music of the Year award from multiple magazines.

I was initially a bit puzzled by it: there's nothing in the music that immediately jumps at you as great. It's nice, it resembles Nine Inch Nails in some places, that's it. But then I noticed I can listen to it for extended lengths of time without problem. It's relatively subtle, and it grows on you. It doesn't resemble the "epic" movie-style soundtracks that are so common these days.

And I guess that's the point... ? Game music, especially in replayable games like RTS, need to be good in the long run or it inevitably ends up being turned off in game settings. "Epic" music makes good first impression, and in trailers, but it's short-sighted in the long run.

I'm arguing along these lines on Age of Wonders 3 forums (upcoming fantasy TBS game similar to Heroes of Might and Magic), but without success.

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