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What Type of Music Do You Listen to While Coding?

David Neuman on February 27, 2019

This fascinating article explains that those not prone to boredom generally performed intellectual tasks better while listening to complex music as...
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christine

I did a post on this a while back. Personally I need something without lyrics to really concentrate, so some of my favorites are the Tron:Legacy soundtrack, IDIOTAPE's 11111101 and the Bolling: Suite for Cello and Jazz Piano Trio album.

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David Neuman

I absolutely love the TRON soundtrack as well!

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christine

It really is a great one, and I like how it is nice and upbeat sometimes I find trance/techno too repetitive but this whole album really works for me.

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Xing Wang

Seems silly. but I like epic sound track music when coding.
Like those by "Two steps from hell," or "Audiomachine"...

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Nathan Englert

Definitely not silly, I do the same thing!

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Mihail Malo • Edited

Never expected this here :v
Impossible is one of my favorite songs.

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David Neuman

Not silly at all! That epic soundtrack music is very motivating, TSFH is awesome haha. Lots of good YouTube playlists for that kind of music!

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Daniel da Rocha

I've been checking out some of the mood playlists on Spotify and they are usually quite cool! Favorites are:

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David Neuman

I love Brain Food, that was my go-to for a while! Will definitely check out the others.

Check out the user-created Developer $hell - really good!

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Daniel da Rocha

this one??

cool, thanks for the tip!

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neumand profile image
David Neuman

You got it!

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christine

I think I saw it in the theater, and just thought how cool the soundtrack was and how it really made the movie. At the time I was already a software engineer, and was always trying to find good music to develop too. I was a bit more into japanese anime music at the time, but I think it when I got a bit more into trance and techno after this.

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ohffs

I find I tend to work better with music I'm very familiar with - doesn't really matter if it's crazy techno, ambient, pop. If I try and listen to new music I get distracted by it.

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David Neuman

That’s a good point! I think I’m in the same boat as you. With familiar songs you don’t need to focus on what might come next.

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Gualtiero Frigerio

I don't listen to music while coding. Unfortunately I work in an open plan with about 10 people so it sometimes gets very noisy and disturbing and I'm tempted by putting on headphones. I found out I'm not really productive while listening to music though, as I enjoy the songs and get distracted by them.
I could just wear headphones to block all the noise, but I don't find them really comfortable.

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Sebastijan Grabar

Techno, house, rock, metal, ambient. Basically anything that comes on autoplay really. Although, when I do listen to music, I find myself spending a lot of time finding the right song, so I'm better off listening a whole concert or something that I don't need to change very soon.

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Jon Fincher

I'm with christine - no lyrics. My go-to is baroque or romantic period music, with a special emphasis on German and Russian composers. Spotify radio stations based on Bach, Rimsky-Korsakov, Borodin, Strauss, etc. keep it interesting.

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Fernando B 🚀 • Edited

Most of the time when I am coding I listen to soundtracks, just about anything Hans Zimmer Inception, Man of Steel, Interstellar, etc. The Martian, Game Of Thrones, Black Panther, Daft Punk.

Other times I like listening to LoFi music, or electronic. Rarely do I listen to music with vocals when I need to concentrate. Occasionally I listen to Rap when feeling creative.

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David Neuman

Awesome, agree with you there. Film scores and other soundtrack stuff is really motivating!

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John Alcher

I personally prefer absolute silence. Any semblance of melody just throws me off the road. Though I might try turning on some "background noise" such as rain or forest sounds for a change, since I find that it helps my focus when I'm playing video games lol.

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Betkowski

Oldie but a goodie:
musicforprogramming.net/

Updated from time to time.

Absolutely gorgeous layout too.

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Mihail Malo • Edited

Can I recommend Transistor OST, or Darren Korb in general?

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David Neuman

Will definitely check those out, thanks!

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Nathan Englert • Edited

For me, whatever it is can't have lyrics. I love listening to game soundtracks, movie scores, chillstep..

Here are some on my rotation:

I'm sure there are more..

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Stephen Smith • Edited

Listen to lo-fi or old school hip hop. Also some classical or jazz as the mood leads me. I also DJ so from time to time i will listen to new music :)

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Joe Mainwaring

I generally enjoy Electro when I'm coding, my usual go-tos are the Futuristic Thriller Mixes from Black Tiger Sex Machine

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Tyler V. (he/him)

I listen to a lot of different music depending on what kind of kick I've been on, but when consistently I'll put on "Song of Storms (Piano Instrumental)" when I'm about to really get in the zone.

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Miriam Keenan

I use noisli(the free version), productive mode! Or else the soundtrack to Shrek haha.