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Luca
Luca

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Music & Coding: let's take a survey

Saturday morning brings simple questions, but not simple answers.
What kind of music do you listen to when coding?

Personally, i choose a music without singing, which honestly distracts me quite a lot. What about you, DEV community?

Your favourite music genre when coding
So let's take a survey: comment with your preferred genre or "love" someother's one: that would count as a vote.

Note: silence is also an answer.


This article was written while listening to La Casa Elettrica #01.

Cover image by Artem RHADS ChebokhaPRO

Top comments (71)

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dbanty profile image
Dylan Anthony

Silence

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mortoray profile image
edA‑qa mort‑ora‑y

I live in a city and get only low-quality silence. On occasion I take a trip to enjoy high quality countryside silence.

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lucagrandicelli profile image
Luca

Would you code then, being in the countryside? :)

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mortoray profile image
edA‑qa mort‑ora‑y

And disturb the silence with key strokes?

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cubiclebuddha profile image
Cubicle Buddha • Edited

I like to use “pink noise” sound waves to put my brain in the right state: dev.to/cubiclebuddha/10-tips-to-fi...

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mortoray profile image
edA‑qa mort‑ora‑y
  • Death/Black/Doom Metal
  • Any Atmospheric/Soundscape
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maxart2501 profile image
Massimo Artizzu

That's... quite a shift of genres 🤣

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dmfay profile image
Dian Fay

Not really, the black metal - dark ambient connection is pretty close.

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mortoray profile image
edA‑qa mort‑ora‑y

Yes, precisely. I actually listen to two styles of music "Intense" or "Atmospheric". Most of this happens in the black/death/doom genres, but they are kind of orthogonal measures to the genre.

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mortoray profile image
edA‑qa mort‑ora‑y

I love stuff like Ghoultown as well, if you want an other shift of genres. :D

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anyaritanake profile image
Anyari Tanake

Silence disturbing me :)

Those for coding:

  1. Deep Progressive Underground House Sets. Mostly Johnny M in the Mix johnnyminthemix.com/
  2. Psy Trance
  3. Electro
  4. Synth wave, Electro wave, Retro Electro
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mortoray profile image
edA‑qa mort‑ora‑y

Pysbient or Space Ambient as well?

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anyaritanake profile image
Anyari Tanake

Sure :) This is sooo long list :D I've mentioned only my last obsessions ;)

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misterwhat profile image
Jonas Winzen

Psytrance ❤️

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mapstar8 profile image
mapstar8

Definetly silence.

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acido_binario profile image
🍝 sadder sCrypt Kiddie 𖤐🕷️

Mostly (technical | progressive) death/black/djenty metal, things like Periphery, Jinjer, Devin Townsend, Keith Merrow, or even Yngwie Malmsteen and DIO.

I think it helps me relax and liberate the stress of constant tension for thinking and coding during long periods of time :)

And I listen to that music wearing some nice in-ear monitors to get better noise isolation and more sound spectrum!

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mortoray profile image
edA‑qa mort‑ora‑y

I work at home, so I get to use proper studio monitors for full sound spectrum. Losing that is one of the hardest things I have to do when going to an office!

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mattwillis profile image
Matt Willis • Edited

I used to listen to atmospheric/surreal rock and EDM music (i.e. Radiohead, Pretty Lights, Phantogram) but recently I’ve found I can’t concentrate with any music on. Maybe it’s like when you turn down the radio when you’re lost in your car? 😝

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lucagrandicelli profile image
Luca

I think the more you go deeper in thoughts, the less your brain can handle music.

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ferricoxide profile image
Thomas H Jones II

The deeper into a task I go, the more everything else fades out – even background music that might be playing at a not insignificant volume. The key is to find a soundscape that is sufficient to obliterate random noise without being so engaging that it becomes a distractant in its own right.

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moyamanuel profile image
Manuel Moya

Like you, Luca, I prefer music without vocals. I listen to Classical and Post-Rock when coding. Below is one of my favorite Post-Rock playlists:

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equiman profile image
Camilo Martinez • Edited

I'm the kind of developer that turn coffee music into code.

I'd taked this habit from school when found I can have my maximum concentration listening music and playing air drums.

I use 3 playlist:

  • Classical Music (Classical, Opera)
  • Rock & Heavy Classics (Rock, Glam, Heavy, Power)
  • Evil Metal All Nite (Doom, Death, Black, Thrash)

I'm usually listen some Death Metal when need maximum concentration and speed. For me it's like use nitro.


I'm not updated those playlist frequently on my YouTube channel but used it as backup when can't access my Goggle Music account.

youtube.com/user/equiman/playlists

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nickjj profile image
Nick Janetakis

I listen to a lot of ambient scores from movies and video games but I also listen to a ton of deathcore (with and without lyrics).

However when it comes to writing documentation or any type of writing (blog posts, etc.) I don't listen to anything. It's much too distracting.

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highcenburg profile image
Vicente G. Reyes

This week, I've listened to a lot of lo-fi house music to help me get in the zone. I do this for 2 hours straight and sometimes, I get too zoned out that I dont realize the playlist has ended and no longer hear music until I get distracted by our dogs barking.

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misterwhat profile image
Jonas Winzen

Recently I'm enjoying this album a lot:

Also this one (same artist) gives me a great flow at work ⌨️

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nickylewlew profile image
Nick Lewis • Edited

I love to switch it up every once in a while. I'm happy listening to hip hop or jazz, chill out and cinematic tunes from Hans Zimmer but also enjoy pop punk when I need to gear things up.

I don't mind lyrics as they don't distract me too much. It's more the general noise that helps me zone in and concentrate!

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ojacques profile image
Olivier Jacques

I can do a lot without music. But when VSCode is opened, I have to have music on as well.
I listen to EDM, Linkin Park, Depeche Mode, Muse, Pink Floyd, Genesis, and so many others...
I found that I really like listening to full albums vs. playlists. Maybe the album concept, in its
continuity, helps me to stay “in the zone”.

My post would not be complete if I was not doing some shameless self promotion 😁 - check my own band: « Shiny Darkness ». We are close to release our 6th album. 🤘😀🤘

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nancyd profile image
Nancy Deschenes

John Cage's 4'33 (someone had to say it)

It very much depends on my mood, but usually lyrics get in the way so I go for instrumental.

When I'm in the mood for classical, I gravitate towards Bach.

When I'm in a more modern mood, I go for electronic/ambient. I used to know the names of the pieces and artists (Jean Michel Jarre comes to mind) but these days, I let Google Play or Deezer pick for me.

I also use focus@will, a music service that's supposed to help you concentrate. I find it generally helps, but then again, I used when I really want to concentrate, so it's self-fulfilling. I go for the "alpha chill" channel more often than not.

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maxart2501 profile image
Massimo Artizzu

A bunch of genres:

  • Epic (Two Steps From Hell, Audiomachine, etc.)
  • Celtic and New age
  • Electronic and dance music
  • Rock (including a playlist with only Queen songs 😁)
  • Classic pop
  • Ambient sounds (noisli.com for example)
  • Metal, mostly symphonic

... Well, in the end I spam quite a bit. But, most importantly, I use noise-cancelling headphones!