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Ivan Spoljaric

Posted on Apr 10, 2020

What music do you like to listen while coding? Here are some of my personal favourites that help me get "in the zone".

#productivity #discuss #motivation

I've noticed that listening to music while coding helps me to switch into my deep work mode.

Although I sometimes listen to generic stuff, like the current Global Top 50 Hits, most of the time I prefer purely instrumental music (with just a touch of vocals sprinkled in the right places). My personal favorites are soundtracks from sci-fi tv-series and movies.

Why Sci-Fi

I am a huge fan of the sci-fi genre (also fantasy, but to a lesser extent). Ever since I was a small kid I loved reading novels from great writers like Isaac Asimov (I, Robot), Frank Herbert (Dune), Arthur C. Clarke (The Songs of Distant Earth or 2001: A Space Odyssey) and Carl Sagan (Contact). I also loved watching tv-series like Star Trek, Firefly, Stargate SG1, and movies like Star Wars, Sunshine, The Matrix and Interstellar. This is to name a few.

That's why my coding playlists have soundtracks like;

I don't understand completely why these specific songs (or the sci-fi genre in general) strike an "emotional" chord for me, or how they help me to get "in the zone". I believe it has something to do with my emotional attachment to the stories and characters. Like I'm somehow reliving the experiences I had while watching those tv shows or movies.

Today's recommendation

Here is something I've been listening to for the past few days. The season 3 soundtracks of the 2004-2008 Battlestar Galactica TV Series.

This TV series is absolutely awesome and a must-see for every Sci-Fi fan out there. But so is the music (mainly because of Bear McCreary's brilliance).

Anyway, I hope you enjoy this playlist as much as I do. My favourites are: 03-Admiral And Commander, 06-Wayward Soldier and 21-All along the Watchtower.

Battlestar Galactica Season 3 Soundtrack

What do you like to listen to while coding? Feel free to write any suggestions you have in the comments. :)

Top comments (9)

Ryan • Apr 10 '20

I'm easy, I throw the lofi hip hop radio beats to relax/study to and I can groove on server work all morning

Zachary Lamb (He, Him, His) • Apr 13 '20

Ay, another BSG fan! Not sure if you heard , but SyFy is streaming seasons 1-4 right now!. Anyways, my song contribution to this is October by Icarus. I have noticed that there is a big overlap in terms of music that I like to code to and music that my yoga teachers like to play, haha.