Ask HN: What music do you listen to when hacking?

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=6671698

by NAFV_P • 13 years ago

16 31 13 years ago

news.ycombinator.com

a3n• 13 years ago

I love silence.

https://www.hnsearch.com/search#request/all&q=music+hacking&...

NAFV_P7• 13 years ago

Silence is one of my favourite bands.

karolisd• 13 years ago

Autechre is hacker music.

NAFV_P7• 13 years ago

Lowride off Incunabula, first heard it off Mo'Wax Headz.

Them two look like hackers to me. I recently found out they've been around since '87 (according to Discogs).

alexhawdon• 13 years ago

Yeah, they code up their own 'instruments' in Max/MSP and some of their music is algorithmically generated.

Of particular note is 'Flutter', a track where no two bars are the same, which was produced in response to the UK Government passing an 'anti-rave' law which attempted to classify dance/electronic music as 'repetitive beat music'. Party organisers were encouraged to have a copy of Flutter, a musicologist and a solicitor on hand in the event of the police trying to enforce these crazy laws. Fun times!

acomjean• 13 years ago

it varies, but usually works best with music I'm already familiar with

today is was 1) the Fretless (irish classical hybrid) 2) Foo Fighters 3) Eve 6

sometimes I'll stream wmbr (wmbr.org). They have a variety of music thats usually good. They archive the shows to for later listen if you don't like whats on now.

NAFV_P7• 13 years ago

sometimes I'll stream wmbr (wmbr.org).

I had a quick peek, I was wondering if RMS would be listening to it of this moment.

I also had a listen to the Fretless, nice. My sister used to be an excellent fiddler.

vonseel2• 13 years ago

Sometimes silence.

Sometimes guitar based music: Robben Ford, Matt Schofield, Johnny A, Satriani etc

Sometimes electronic/pop: Daft Punk, Empire of the Sun, Cut Copy, Ratatat, El Ten Eleven

Sometimes electro swing: Parov Stelar, similar on pandora radio

Lots of Rdio radio and Pandora lately, influenced by one of above. Lately Rdio seems to introduce more artists than Pandora, and has more features (adventurous, artist only)....

NAFV_P7• 13 years ago

Had a look at Cut Copy - Free Your Mind. Weird Video... it gets weirder.

Robben Ford must get some sore fingers.

vonseel2• 13 years ago

Ford is great. I'm a guitar player myself, and I feel hearing scales and fast guitar playing keeps me going when working. Lyrics on the other hand can be distracting, unless foreign. There's a Norwegian band, Kaiser's Orchestra, that I listen to occasionally. http://youtu.be/8ZkFXnm-RNQ

jsonne• 13 years ago

Swedish House Mafia Pandora Station

NAFV_P7• 13 years ago

I looked up Pandora... bollocks you can't access it England.

I'll have take your word for it that it's swish.

drill_sarge• 13 years ago

Soundtracks or instrumental stuff in general. Everything is ok for me if it has no lyrics/singer etc.

NAFV_P7• 13 years ago

I tend to be the same, but I like to experiment.

tamersalama2• 13 years ago

Classical - anyone from Brahms, Rachmaninoff, Beethoven, Chopin, Mahler, Mussorgsky, Gershwin, Tchaikovsky and others.

Eras are anything from Baroque, Classical to Romantic but not Contemporary.

NAFV_P7• 13 years ago

I'm fond of the Impressionists.

Ravel: Music For Four Hands with Louis Lortie and Helene Mercier is worth a good ear.

I'm interested in hearing some Baroque, but I'm clueless about the genre.

tamersalama2• 13 years ago

I'm not too much into impressionists, but I love Debussy.

For Baroque; Start with the king, Bach. Beware though, some complained it takes away from their brain cycles. Concerto in A Minor for Four Harpsichords: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_if3nhq64pE

Just give yourself a bit of time to get familiar with tonality and harmony.

bdevine• 13 years ago

I am one of those who can't have lyrics in the background. I like a mix of light classical and modern (Satie to Glass) along with cool jazz (if you include Sketches of Spain in that category). For my late nights I tend to go with Boards of Canada though.

intull• 13 years ago

Mainly Instrumental for me. It varies from movie soundtracks (especially by Hans Zimmer) to classical and even trance or digital mmusic (which you can find in http://di.fm).

b3b0p• 13 years ago

KEXP.org - http://kexp.org

OCRemix - http://ocremix.org (there are also a ton of community created albums that are great)

OCRemix Radio - http://rainwave.cc

When I'm bored and going through the motions working on something that doesn't need great thought I listen to podcasts or put Netflix on in the background for background noise.

mikelyons• 13 years ago

Com Truise - Galactic melt

jongibbins• 13 years ago

Anything with a good consistent rhythm and beat is good for me. I particularly find that (surprisingly!) liquid Drum & Bass helps get you in 'the zone' of concentration.

james678• 13 years ago

Anything that I have heard many times before. I find new music very distracting and music I have heard and enjoyed before very relaxing.

loudnoises• 13 years ago

internet radio!

http://soma.fm

http://di.fm

http://dublab.com

jetru• 13 years ago

Metal - Heavy/Progressive/Melodic/Symphonic Electronic - Progressive/House/Dubstep

I use Spotify

PeterisP• 13 years ago

For hacking it's essential that lyrics don't take up any brainspace, as (at least for me) the verbal part of brain needs to 'hear code' I'm reading/writing.

So it's either something purely instrumental (say, Apocalyptica), something completely foreign (j-rock? most european languages don't work as too many words are semi-understandable), or something that I've listened to for a dozen years and know entirely by heart.

kennethtilton• 13 years ago

I cannot listen to music when programming. If you held a gun to my head, I think New Age is the only thing content-free enough not to distract me.

lucasnemeth2• 13 years ago

Steve Reich is great for hacking.

lucasnemeth2• 13 years ago

Also Luc Ferrari, Bernard Parmegiani, Tristain Murail.

benji-york• 13 years ago

Glenn Gould's 1981 recording of the Goldberg Variations.

I use it like a Pomodoro timer. I start the recording, I work for 51 minutes and when it is over I take a break.

The recording has a nice mix of relaxed and energetic segments and it is sufficiently repetitive that it isn't distracting.

misterparker• 13 years ago

Benjamin Briggs makes a lot of good stuff. I'm a bit of a NES nostalgic when coding. My love for coding began in 98 when I built my first website (a Zelda 64 Ocarina of Time fan-site)

http://benjaminbriggs.bandcamp.com/track/this-track-may-snac... (Let me know if you recognize the sound at 2:14 (clue its from an awesome NES game)

https://soundcloud.com/zedd/zedd-legend-of-zelda-original

I also highly recommend OCRemix.org if you too like game tunes.

When not feeling gamey it might be Muse, Ratatat, Kamelot or whatever else feels a good pace to code with.

Ask HN: What music do you listen to when hacking?

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