Personally work in IT, mostly fixing server and infrastructure. Big fan of listening to ambiance music while working: the kind of music and sounds that make you forget that you're listening to it, to me, that's the perfect kind of working music. Otherwise I will listen to game and movie soundtracks from Lotr, Star Wars, Ghilbi, Harry Potter etc.. I used to be all into lofi, but need a break from it now.
Anyways, please share your favorite music to listen to while working, and let us know what you work as too! More fun to see how the profession match with music taste.
Lots of synthwave and electronica. But mostly without lyrics (I hesitate to say instrumental, since y'know, it's all electronic). I'm a software developer, and I find words too distracting.
I have a hard time listening to that music when I'm not working, since it tends to be painfully repetitive.
About 90 seconds of alt rock, then someone will get my attention to ask a question, I'll take my headphones off, then sit for three hours with them on my neck until I remember to put them on again.
Plaid is one of my all time favorites! Got to see them a few years back. If you like them, check out an artist called IDGlitch on SoundCloud. Super underrated and the closest thing I've heard to plaid:
If I need to do any thinking at all - complete silence
If I do not need to do any thinking - edutainment podcasts, mostly space stuff (Universe Today, Astronomy Cast, etc.)
I cycle through genres every month or so. For a while it had been ska, now I'm in a funk mood. March is all Irish music, then maybe some death metal before I switch to deep classic rock cuts and live shows.
Maybe try some post-rock. It's usually just instrumental and often crosses almost to ambient. Bands like God is an astronaut, Mogwai, Hammock, Sigur Ros, Mono, Red Sparowes, etc.
Mostly (though not exclusively) Alt-country/Americana, because that's what I always listen to. As long as I've already heard it a few times, I don't typically find lyrics distracting. I'm a Contracting SME for a software company, because it's better hours and fewer crazies than being lawyer.
When I’m not on the phone or with a client, I typically listen to jazz. Miles Davis, John Coltrane, Lee Morgan, Charlie Parker, etc. Something about it just helps me focus.
I’ll also occasionally listen to movie and game soundtracks to mix things up. It’s very rare that I ever listen to anything with lyrics while working.
Some instrumentals, some video game music, some electronica. The general theme is that i can properly listen to it without diverting too much of my focus, as opposed to the progmetal I normally listen to.
Thanks for sharing! I will share a little tip back, the Spotify URLs actually contain tracking by default, you can remove everything after the question-mark (including the question-mark) and the link is still completely valid :)
So your link above could be, https://open.spotify.com/playlist/4l4YsYNV4wjqtQ8F4sz0ul.
(I don't blame you, I blame Spotify)
Depends how much I need to concentrate. Heavy concentration requires music without lyrics so that is classical with some concentration in classical guitar for me.
If I just want some music, then heavy metal and/or rock of most flavors. Sometimes that will be www.hardradio.com .
I have a percentage of my CDs ripped and on my PC so often I'll just randomize everything in VLC. I do still spin my discs sometimes too in the 2 portable CDs players I have near my desk.
Work in a restaurant so I need music that can match my pace. Usually this means metal (death metal/ metal core) but recently been going on a grunge kick and some 80s punk and prog.
I work from home a lot so I can use my record player, and I've got all kinds of stuff ranging from Taylor Swift and Lana Del Rey to Electric Wizard and Monolord. I write for a gaming website on the side and often get sent soundtracks to review, so I can spend ages on that as well. It's mostly what I'm in the mood for, although if I need to concentrate it has to be something without lyrics or I lose focus.
I listen to classical, WETA or WFMT or WCPE by default.
Sometimes I listen to college radio to hear stuff I don't know about.
Today I listened to a concert by Tom Waits in 1977.
I’ve been going through a long Final Fantasy piano YouTube track for a month so far as background music when I’m thinking. Otherwise it’s whatever the group wants. Today it was Pickers Americana Banjo playlist. Sometimes it’s Marley or his son.
I used to work at Lowe’s, so it was either football announcers or their Worst Pop of 2002 mix tape. One time the music went out, and I was meeting with customers, I played some jazz from my phone and that was nice. Got fired that afternoon, but not for the jazz I don’t think. Timing was a little suspect though.
I prefer old-school trance, mostly, but anything high-energy and instrumental works. I've been known to use the Mario Kart soundtrack now and then. The important part is that either there are no lyrics, or the lyrics are in a language I've never attempted to learn.
Okay this is a cheat code I will share with you. When coding I listen to 3blue1brown music.. If you have been watching that guy you will notice feeling like a fucking genius solving problems all the time :)
Nothing. I have this weird thing where I can't listen to music and do my work at the same time. Listening to music is an active experience for me, I have to focus my whole attention on it and enjoy it. Putting music on as background noise doesn't work, it gets super irritating because I can't focus on my work or on the music.
The other issue is that the instant I put my headphones on at work to listen to music, someone comes to my desk to talk to me, without exception. And I hate talking to people, so I avoid wearing headphones at work these days.
Whatever's been stuck in my head if I've got very little to do and the lyrics won't distract me. Piano and softer instrumentals when I want music but am also working on something. Podcasts when doing mindless data shuffling or cleaning. Rainy Mood when studying.
And Megalovania if I need to work on a time sensitive priority 1 fix/task.
AutoCAD drafter here.
An ambient album I really like is Eshajori by Aether. That album gives the vibe of being alone in a big city at night. I love the melancholy feeling of it. No vocals either aside from the occasional distant sound of voices.
Not quite in the same vein, but similar is The Airship by Port Blue. That one has more rhythm than Eshajori, but it still feels "experimental" with the sounds he picked to make the music (one song the beat is someone walking on gravel for the entire thing).
If I want to rock out rather than vibe, it's hard to go wrong with almost anything by Abandoned By Bears. It's just the right amount of cathartic release for me. Sadly they haven't made anything new since 2018.
Mostly just 2 hours instrumental playlists off YouTube from places like Epic Music Empire or PandoraJourney. Usually like movie trailer music. It's good for when you need hard heavy background noise to keep you focused but without lyrics so I don't get distracted.