Hello,

I listen to music all the time and was wondering what you find helps you code/draw?

When coding something that just requires doing without too much thinking, I often listen to fast music with loads going on, as it fill me with energy, something like Necrophagist, Slayer or DragonForce.

When I'm doing something that requires thinking or maths I usually listen to Epic film/game scores, or Instrumental music. My maths brain finds voices distracting.

I also find that listening to a themed playlist can help me get my interest for a project back. I'm listening to this Space themed playlist a lot at the moment.

I find that most importantly I need to listen to music I know, otherwise my main energy ends up being spent listening, rather than doing. But that's not always the case, some genres (cough Deathcore cough) are predictable enough that listening to new bands isn't a distraction.

It would be cool to hear your suggestions. I know a lot of people listen to Trance, which is a genre I'm only just getting to grips with, any recommendations?

Ps all of these are Spotify playlists, I think you should at least be able to see what's in them regardless of where you are, but I don't know, so sorry if you can't.

While I'm programming I don't listen to anything, it distracts me. However when I'm thinking creatively any kind of music helps.

Yeah, I can't listen to anything while programming. I just put on my sound cancelling headphones.

Optimally *nothing*. Silence is nice.

But there are some types of music which make working at least more possible than some noise from neighbors or outdoors.

One important factor would be, no vocals, or in a language I do not understand (wouldbe english grunt vowels of death metal counts here :D )

Vocals tend to be too distracting.

- some types of instrumental jazz

- some "ambient" stuff, possibly movie soundtracks like alien. Makes somewhat nervous and works comparable to caffeine in that regard ^^
- some classical music, e.g. baroque
- metal with non-recognizeable or no vocals, esp. jazz metal, math metal - it might seem very distracting if not used to it

When i am coding i am rarely into zone, i mean i sometimes concentrate and test but prefer not going into zone whatewer it is.. what is zone?

I am watching tv - listen a lot of music but when i am after of before coding (I notice that i often like sweet hiphop or breakbeat beats)

Generally it's just silence, but every now and then i throw on some punk rock, or metal. I can program with or without music. I however hate music that is slow, and has no vocals. I tend to get agivated at long, drawn out instrumentals, that are pretty pointless imo.

For the silence guys -- if you've not already tried it, try listening to music with half a pair of headphones (one earbud, or headphones only over one ear). Half your brain gets silence and half your brain gets music. I often find myself doing this when silence is too empty and music is too overwhelming.

For the silence guys -- if you've not already tried it, try listening to music with half a pair of headphones (one earbud, or headphones only over one ear). Half your brain gets silence and half your brain gets music. I often find myself doing this when silence is too empty and music is too overwhelming.

silence would be worse than music for me, for me tv/movie set works the best - i 'watched' the hundreds of movies when coding last months

Whatever suits my mood frankly... from metal to dub step to post rock to big room house... and everything in between... it's less about the 'type' of music and more about the music which matches my mood and allows half of my brain to go 'oooo thing to decode...' while the other half gets on with being awesome.

The 'thing to decode' is sometimes the most important bit; new music (be it an album, track or mix) tends to be better than old but anything will do.

Recent offerings would include;
Blood Stain Child
65daysofstatic
God Is An Astronaut
Yashin
Professor Green
36 Crazyfists
Filter
Frank Turner
Diablo Swing Orchestra
Combichrist

And more Going Quantum podcasts than I can recall...

what is zone?

Being "in the zone" is basically achieving a state of flow where you become deeply immersed in the task at hand. If you've really never experienced this you're missing out!

It's hard (impossible for some people) to intentionally trigger a state of flow ("get into the zone") but whenever possible it's well worth a small amount of effort to set up your working environment to be conducive to flow so that it's more likely to happen for you, especially if you're able to do the set-up once but benefit many times. Things that can help include removing distractions, making sure your work-area is comfortable and has everything you need within easy reach, and even choosing the right music (or silence!).