Would love to get more variety in what I'm listening to. I struggle with any audio that has lyrics, so most of what I listen to falls into the categories:
- lofi
- classical
- instrumental
But I do enjoy some upbeat techno when I'm in a groove. Usually when I'm trying to figure out a difficult problem I opt for silence first.
Curious to hear how everyone else approaches audio when working?
Top comments (2)
For last years I've composed my music list by intensity of the musical composition. Here are some examples of long mixes and brief description:
🔈 Calm mode, for maximum concentration and minimum distraction:
#codemood_1 - usually it is an atmospheric or environment sounds, without actual music (i.e. sound of heavy rain or campfire cracking)
#codemood_2 - very calm music, where atmosphere still prevails (wind, rain). Suitable for intense code sessions where you need to concentrate or for sleep :)
#codemood_3 - same as #2, but here music prevails over environmental sounds.
#codemood_4 - atmospheric music with minimal 'dark' mood (less calm than #3, but still not as spooky as #5)
#codemood_5 - dark sounds like ambient drone / lovecraftian (this won't be suitable for most of coders, I think, because this sound can be really 'ear-stressful'. Best reference: Atrium Carceri). Also here goes calm postrock (solo guitar, solo piano).
🔉 Standard mode: flow, intensive, when you can allow yourself to 'code-wander' around:
#codemood_6 - tavern/feast atmosphere, medieval, adventurous spirit (medieval fantasy). Best reference: Skyrim, World of Warcraft, LOTR. Some YT channel authors have great compilations of 1hr in-game ambience+music or just ambience mixes. That's the ones I use most of the time.
#codemood_7 - electronic, hasteless downtempo or psychill, cosmic deeps + drums. Best reference: Connect.Ohm, Carbon Based Lifeforms, Astronaut Ape, Kalpataru Tree.
#codemood_8 - cybernetic utopia, 'enter the matrix', synthetic electronica; cyberpunk hole, more intensity.
My personal favs here, goes really well anytime:
🔊 Hyperactive mode: to avoid falling for sleep when you have 5-10 hours flow; for peppy code, for doing layout where you don't need to work with deep code abstractions:
#codemood_9 - usually postrock or lively psytrance, where guitar/synth/drums prevail in one tonality. Also here goes funk, funky breaks, trip-hop or lo-fi.
Personal fav in this category:
#codemood_10 - the very heavy posion. Best reference: The Prodigy, 3D Stas, Mick Gordon, Pendulum, Zardonic and so on.
STUDIO GHIBLI JAZZ music, Chiptunes, guns and roses, daft punk instrumental