What do you listen to while programming?

I either listen to nothing, or I put some dubstep on. Anything with words is completely lost on me while I'm "in the zone".

Curious what other people listen to while programming? I've known people to have YouTube videos on, but I just can't understand how they concentrate on it.

Comments

[Robin Kretzschmar]

I have a great variation in my taste of music and for the last couple of months I listen to liquid drum and bass. I listened to that kind of music some years ago but lost the interest in it. After encountering it again I feel like it makes me more productive during work.
I'd say I am the kind of person that can't listen to slow / chilled music while working. I need either something "aggressive" or something with higher bpm 😊

[Si]

I'm very much the same - Drum & Bass and Dubstep at the moment. Just putting together a programming playlist of all the good suggestions in here.

[Robin Kretzschmar]

I really like to listen to the playlist once you finished putting it together!
Where do you gather the tracks? Spotify, YouTube, SoundCloud?

[Si]

Of course - there's currently 104 hours worth of music, so it's definitely shareable.

Here's the Spotify link: open.spotify.com/user/aai8abzll2j8...

If you have any suggestions, let me know!

[Robin Kretzschmar]

Thanks! :)

[Si]

You are more than welcome.

[Basti Ortiz]

I have a strange relationship with listening to music while programming. The music I choose can sometimes get me hyped up for coding. On other days, I would have to turn off the same songs because they would strangely make me lose concentration and focus. I guess I'm weird that way.

Anyway, I listen to a variety of songs, primarily those in the indie genre because I simply cannot stand mainstream pop songs. I have so much in my playlist that I'm not even sure what to answer when you ask me "what I listen to while programming".

In the general sense, I'd say I listen to a lot of orchestral music, instrumentals, indie pop, indie folk, rock (not metal), and a bit of electro. I especially like it when orchestral music and powerful choirs intermingle with indie pop music. The smooth sounds of the violins and the rather modern sounds of the drums mix together very well, and keep me hyped up for a long coding/debugging session.

If I were to recommend some music for those who share my music taste, The Family Crest is an amazing band that infuses orchestral music with a modern touch of indie pop. The vocals are really powerful, too, which makes it funner to sing to during those coding highs.

For those looking for a bit of rock with some nice string instruments, Vinci might be worth looking into.

[Si]

It is really hard to find decent programming music. I guess it also depends on what you're trying to accomplish, weirdly.

I'm definitely going to look up your recommendations though. I'm always up for new music.

[MiAn]

traditional chinese.
selected 80's rock ( I used to be an FM station manager, so my 60's - 90's library is enormous
some light classical
some light jazz

most important of all the same songs for weeks on end, so it's "mindless". Only adding and subtracting a few songs at a time every month.

[Peter Witham]

I have recently been trying brain.fm and I think it might be working, it does actually do a better job than music for making me focus. However, music is still better for motivating me when I need it.

[Si]

I'd never heard of brain.fm until now. I just looked at their site; so it's just music, or something more?

Unfortunately I am at my limit for monthly subscriptions!

[Peter Witham]

I would describe it more as ambient tones or very low fidelity music maybe.

If I remember right there is a version on Android and iOS that lets you play it for free with some features turned off. If you wanted to try it out.

[Si]

Ah ok! I may just give it a go - I'm not sure soothing tunes are really my bag for programming, it might send me to sleep :)

[Evan Oman]

I usually listen to a mix of instrumental music, especially Jazz.

Then I found the album Voice by Hiromi which is great mix of jazz piano. I've been listing to this on repeat 8 hrs a day for several months now and I love it. It is nice to not need to think about music during work.

[Savy]

I like to play a movie series in background , it is not that much attention-grabbing, entertains me and prevent loneliness when I'm alnoe.
Other options like music or youtube usually make me 'Think' or "Feel" and I think these are counter productive.

[Djordje Bajic]

Usually metal, rock, punk.. but i also like good blues, synthpop (royksopp ❤) and rap.

[Vincent Grovestine]

Digitally Imported is great for EDM/electronic music streaming:

• Ambient, Space Dreams = Deep reading and other tasks that require "mental absorption"
• Indie Dance, Deep Nu-Disco = Where most work gets accomplished
• Liquid DnB, Atmospheric Breaks = In the zone, but needing a little more oomph (or trying to block outside distractions)

[Si]

Thanks for the recommendation!

[Anwar]

Sometimes I click on play on my 500+ music Playlist, but always end up fast forwarding to my favorites 😂

It can happen I stop every sound and it just make me feel more productive, depends on the moment but it happens a lot when I need 100% focus to fix something.

Water relaxing musics of times to times...

[Si]

A big playlist is a must! I currently have 104 hours worth of songs in my programming playlist, most of which don't ever get skipped because I forget I'm listening haha

[Dennis Mathenge]

Reggae music gets me in my coding zone.

[Si]

That's an interesting one!