AskFreelancers: Music you listen to when working
Written by Simon North on September 7, 2008 | 3 Comments
AskFreelancers is where I ask freelancers a question, this time I asked the question, “What styles or artists do you listen to when working on contracts”. Personally I like to listen to music without lyrics when I am coding because it requires concentration and I often find myself distracted as I start to sing along, so I tend to prefer more jazz and chillout music, however when I am designing I tend to listen to more Indie and the older tunes that my parents would listen to.
I asked the question on the FreelanceSwitch forums and it was quite clear that most people preferred more relaxed lyric free music as well when they were working with popular artists including Steve Vai, The Beatles and Bon Jovi. Below are some of the best answers that the freelancers gave, complete with links to the artists last.fm profiles if you fancy a listen.
Thomas Byttebier (bytte) of The Hot Seat said:
I have found that when I need to write code and think logically that I can’t concentrate when there’s music on with a singer and much dynamism so in this case I mostly listen to instrumental music that has not much dynamism. I’m thinking of ambient, noise, minimalist music. It helps me to get into “the zone” - working focused with not much distraction. Something that helps even more to reach “the zone” is listening to this kind of music with headphones. It’s like it’s a massage for the brain. Bands are Loscil, Fuck Buttons, Stars of the Lid, Yellow Swans, Oren Ambarchi, Black Dice, Four Tet, Zach Hill projects, Grails, Tortoise, Tim Hecker, Tarentel, Pan Sonic, Isan, Ignatz, John Zorn, Fennesz, Susumu Yokota, Flössin, The Drift, White Rainbow…
When I’m designing I can take all kinds of music and even prefer non-instrumental, dynamic music. Everything indie, post-punk…
Last.fm is a great resource for new music. You can check out my profile at http://www.last.fm/user/bytte (and by merging this post with my last.fm profile you can clearly know whether I’m coding or designing at the moment… 
)
Matt Hill of Frisk Design agreed:
Yep, I’m the same — I can’t listen to music when I’m doing codey stuff.
But if I’m designing or doing HTML/CSS stuff that I find straightforward, then I’ll listen to anything. I’m currently going through a phase of female solo vocalists of different genres. Currently liking Duffy, Beth Rowley. But Pink Floyd, The Beatles and a whole plethora of rock, pop and classical is never far away.
and Dinsky of GreenBook said:
I have a very wide range of songs in my “working” playlist. For me, the music usually serves the purpose of blocking everything else out. It’s on, but I’m not actively listening to it. HOWEVER, what’s going on in my headphones definitely has a big impact on how I work.
It all depends on the project. For example:
While I’m working on the grass roots spoken word festival artwork, or the small town art supplies store, my headphones are full of Neil Young, Bob Dylan, Joni Mitchell and Devendra Banhart.
When I’m working on less-artsy projects such as my personal trainer’s promo, or the cleaning company’s website, it tends to swing the way of Arcade Fire, Early David Bowie, and Black Rebel Motorcycle Club.
“I think the key is in listening to music that I already know very very well. This way, it doesn’t pull me out of the zone I’m in.”
When designing my bf’s next album cover, not only do I listen to the album I’m designing for, but also the artists that have influenced it. In this case, U2 and ACDC.
During personal projects such as GreenBook, or a pro bono logo for the animal shelter, I listen to a mixture of all of these artists.
Of course, the Beatles are prevalent throughout no matter what I’m working on.
For me, I think the key is in listening to music that I already know very very well. This way, it doesn’t pull me out of the zone I’m in. Instead, it acts like a wall between me and the rest of the house and helps me concentrate on what I’m doing. It also helps me out a lot to have a constant stream of creativity and art going through my ears, it keeps my own creative juices flowing!
Conclusion
As you can probably see, it is common when doing jobs that require concentration such as coding we tend to opt for lyricless music which puts us into the “zone” and for designing we choose Artists that inspire us. What do you listen to when working? Do you have favourite artists that help in your inspiration? Leave your comments below and if you want to view the forum thread to see what other members said, you can do so here.
Image Credit: felipedan
