Your Work Day Soundtrack
A friend of mine had an interesting post on her blog recently. She shared the soundtrack of her life, with each part of her world arranged by an individual tune.
As a freelancer, I’ve been trying to figure out if I am more productive with the music on, or with the only sounds in the room being the clicking of the keyboard and the snoring of my dog.
I’ve tried a few different audio stimuli:
- Hard rock – no, not screamo, but good old classic rock and roll. AC/DC, Stones, and sadly, Nickelback.
- Talk Radio – maybe it’s just me getting older, but I am starting to appreciate some of the content on NPR and CBC
- Binaural beats – Could be that this is psychosomatic, but if I need to maintain intense focus (read: get it done before the pressing deadline) I put on some good headphones and click on the binaural beats. Something magical about theta waves or something like that – but, it hasn’t failed me yet.
Nothing is a clear winner yet, and each seems to be more useful for certain tasks.
What do you use? Are sounds, or lack of sounds, the best tool to help you pump out quality projects?
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Besides being a melomaniac, I’ve found music to be a need more than a passion. Not just for work, I need it while eating, playing, driving, writing, loving or whatever other activity I can think of. I listen to pretty much all and any genres that cross my way (been listening to some Jazz and Hip-Hop [GOOD Hip-Hop] lately).
After much experimentation, I’ve found that music I do NOT know the lyrics of, or has no lyrics at all is the best for my workflow. Genre doesn’t really matters, as long as I don’t start seeing the lyrics in my head and start singing.
As every rule, there’s an exception: when I’m extremely stressed AND/OR tired, singing along a fun, jumping rhythm is much more helpful than anything but a good night sleep would ever be.
I also go for music without lyrics while I’m working. I put on Pandora and just switch stations if a particular genre starts to be more distracting than helpful. My recent favorites: classical, Argentine tango, belly dance fusion, and drumming (of all kinds). I like being able to move between calmer and more upbeat music, depending on my energy level. I also keep some good rock and reggaeton on hand, to add some fun during my breaks!
sadly – Pandora doesnt work here in Canada.
grooveshark does – and I like the eclectic mix of rhythms that you have listed – i think i will try searching them out
Well I am a 25 yrd designer so when I need to focus yet not feel completely deprived of entertainment;
I often listen to a genre called ‘Minimal Tech’ although some may consider this to be ‘Techno’ I insure you that Minimal Tech is just that,
Enough of a rhythmic beat that wont interfere with your concentration but might keep you in your groove.
Checkout my favorite radio station DeepMix; http://wcdco.info/aD .
Great Station, will definitely add it to my collection. Very similar to stations i like to listen, mainly electronic , during work like Online Electronic Music, which plays minimal tech sometimes too.
http://www.oemradio.org/
I typically use either rock music, or instrumental music. These past few weeks have been all about playing soundtracks from video games while I work. The lack of words keeps me focused, and the epic nature of the games (Halo, Final Fantasy) makes me excited while I work.
About the Binural Beats, I agree. The Theta waves do the same for me, although I know it is a psychosomatic response and I don’t buy into all the pseudo science surrounding them. But they can be very relaxing in the way they seem to clear my mind.
I’m going to have to find the theme music to Zelda and Final Fantasy!
love that you call binaural beats pseudoscience – and then say they work
I work at the pace of the music I’m listening to; I’m usually listening to metalcore or something that has fast beats.
i’m an oldschool punk at heart (40 years) and if i need to hammer out a project, nothing keeps me focused and full of energy like 80′s punk and psychedelia.
dickies, black flag, b – tthole surfers, scratch acid, melvins, etc…
lately on a jesus lizard kick.
but – i’m also very much into talk radio, and that’s normally on during the usual daily grind of the freelance designer/daddy/coffee connoissieur…
Well I usually kick it off with something rockin’, like Raw Power by the Stooges. I then ascend through bands like AIDS Wolf, Lightning Bolt, and Crank Sturgeon to maintain that adrenaline with my 2nd coffee. I usually then move it to some hip hop or something beat-oriented. Hip hop is especially good if the project is high-priced cuz then we be stackin’ figurez to go along with the music.
I should start listening to development podcasts whilst wielding my thick rimmed glasses
Recently I’ve been leaving iTunes on shuffle, until it lands on a tune that really catches me – then I binge on that one track for about half a day.
Other than that I tend to stick with Downtempo, Atmospheric Drum & Bass, Electro, and Japanese music… LTJ Bukem, Jazzanova, London Elektricity, Bird and Kyoto Jazz Massive.
But, when I was in school the ONLY album I could listen to whilst doing homework was Seal’s 1994 album. I couldn’t concentrate with anything else. Heh.
Music is essential… but my tastes vary to wide to try and nail my work soundtrack down to a few bands. I don’t need it to be in the back ground. I just need to drown out the silence.
I did get a hold of Mumford and Sons last week and have had it on pretty steady rotation. Check it out.
Music only. No songs…I find words too distracting. Usually classical works great. Binaural beats (to keep concentration high) are phenomenal.
I always listening to Screamo, Post-hardcore and Emo. Love the screaming and the feelings in every song.
I can’t work when its silence, really really hate it.
Sigur Ros! Anything sprawling and soundscape-esque I love to work to.
80′s music on pandora… keeps me going!
I have to agree, binaural beats is the best. But I can’t listen to the song for quite long though, it makes my ear tired.
Some days I can’t work without the music, some days I can’t work without Radio 4, some days I need silence (or as close to it as I can get), some days I need rainfall.
Being in Manchester, rainfall is plentiful.
here in Victoria BC, I’m pretty used to the sound of rain, too!
and i love it.
I tried looking for songs on my iTunes radio. Scrolled to RNB and realized it’s not my groove. Checked out Hard Rock but didn’t find any.
And now I’m stuck with silence. Keeps me productive still.
I’m still working on what kind of background noise works best for when I’m working. If I’m writing fiction, it absolutely has to be a tailored playlist.
A lot of times I leave the TV on while I’m working low-maintenance, but if I need to focus I seem to work best in silence or with the radio on — if I have control of the MP3 player, I spend too much time skipping songs.
The Mozart for Baby album I bought was supposedly for my daughter in order to soothe her to sleep. In the end I’m the one listening to it while working on client projects.
For freelancing, I have to listen to orchestral music (preferably video game soundtracks) and podcasts. I can’t listen to anything else without being distracted.
I usually listen to spoken stuff while I work; music doesn’t keep me on track very well. For illustration, it’s audiobooks – I’ve nearly worked my way through the Dresden Files, which are fantastic, and the Dark Tower series before that. For design, where I need to think a little more carefully, I stick to podcasts, so if I zone out I’m not missing part of a story. (Illustration podcasts, mostly – Ninja Mountain’s probably my favourite.) The only time I actually listen to music is when I’m dealing with text. I can’t focus on people talking and edit copy at the same time without the two messing each other up.
never considered listening to audiobooks or podcasts, figured they’d be too distracting.
the fact that im a huge SK fan, and have read the dark tower series a number of times might let me maintain focus while listening to the audiobooks – might have to try this tomorrow!
Hope I’m not sent west for it!
I’m very impressionable and saw this on TV once:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mRmFEpl74sI
Been listening to gangsta rap while I work ever since.
I play one song on repeat. Doesn’t matter what song. The reason is that it makes time change. When you only have one song instead of a playlist you can no longer judge how long you’ve been working by where you are in the playlist. So you could feel like you’re working for 20 minutes and realize you been at it for 2 hours. Plus after the third loop, the song just becomes white noise I don’t have to think about, which helps me work.
Rock/Hardcore/Punk are some of my favourite genres but I tend to find them distracting when I’m trying to work – especially if I have to think about what I’m doing.
I’ve found that trance music is pretty good for helping me concentrate, probably due to the lack of vocals.
Also instrumental bands such as Russian Circles, If These Trees Could Talk and the like are very good for helping me concentrate too.
I listen to music while working only if I feel so – rarely. And only one without voice, because the lyrics are distracting me somehow
The perfect music for working for me is on Sleepbot:
http://www.sleepbot.com/ambience/broadcast/
It’s a streaming continuos ambient sound that I sync using iTunes.
It’s amazing and I’ve been using it for more than 5 years
However it’s not good when you are sleepy… you can enter strange states of consciousness
It depends what I’m doing as to whether music is an aid or a distraction.
If I’m trying to wrap my head around something new or something that requires a lot of concentration, silence is quite often golden.
If I know what I’m doing and need the drive to push through then it’s classic rock all the way – Aerosmith, Blackstone Cherry, Guns n Roses etc…
If I’m feeling stressed out or the work is beginning to feel particularly heavy, Jazz is the way forward for me. Something light and bouncy like Harry Connick Jr
hey anthony
love that you’ve figured it out for each mood!
I’ve noticed that I work best when listening to Black Sabbath’s Paranoid album.
Depends for me. If I’m writing fiction, I usually pick music appropriate to whatever scene I’m going to be working on – orchestral music and movie scores are great for this kind of work. I also like emo music for this kind of stuff because it pulls the best emotion out of fiction – My Chemical Romance, Evans Blue, that sort of thing.
But if I’m doing editorial work, I like stuff like Massive Attack or some manic synthpunk like Mindless Self Indulgence. My work is repetitive speed-reading and I like my music semi-repetitive and fast too.
Overall though, I don’t have a strong preference for any particular genre. I tend to fall in love with individual songs more than bands, and Pandora is my absolute go-to for music. I wrote a post about working to music here: http://kellyeparish.wordpress.com/2010/07/19/77/
Definitely music without words, or the kind of words that just fade into the background.
When I’m programming I prefer something uplifting, there’s a lot of Darude on my playlist and other trance-type tracks. When I’m working on documentation or doing admin tasks I prefer something gentler, usually Deep Forest or even Clannad depending on my mood.
My productivity levels are much higher with the music playing, most likely because it provides a barrier between what I’m doing and what’s going on in the house around me.
How about we create a shared Spotify playlist for Freelance Switch?
or grooveshark – i’d love to know what you’re listening to
Or Last.FM maybe?
I’ll be the odd one,mostly underground hiphop/old school ( not whats on the tv/radio)
, or some instrumentals always gets me in the zone
great topic! i cant work without music on and it has to be headphones – the more i know the song the better! I have been using a site called Jango over the last year which is basically like a pandora, but i think it adapts to my taste better. Since you can “add” artists to your playlist i figured i would go and copy/paste the first 10 that show up… here it goes…
1. Ra Ra Riot — 2. The Early November — 3. The Appleseed Cast — 4. Silversun Pickups — 5. The Used — 6. Say Anything — 7. Death Cab for Cutie — 8. Dashboard Confessional — 9. Pierce The Veil — 10. Passion Pit
I’m much like you – classic rock. I’ve noticed lately I tend to turn on the Classic Rock channel on Music Choice (a digital music channel available in my area) and work away! I almost always have some kind of background noise going on, but I can honestly say I ignore it for the most part, so I don’t think it has any effect on my productivity!
Film music, film music and more film music. Since that’s what I write about, it helps to have a particular score in the background. But I also use it when I’m writing other projects as well. It’s my music of choice 99% of the time anyway, writing or not. Classical also works well. I can’t listen to anything with lyrics, not even opera. And when I’m editing, preferably no music at all, otherwise I miss things. Music is absolutely essential to my writing, not only in content, but in inspiration and somehow keeping my mind focused. I don’t know how, but it works.
I actually can’t concentrate with music on while I work it seems to pull on the same parts of my brain that I use for designing. Instead I listen to fave movies I’ve seen a million times. That seems to somehow strike the right balance of creativity-freeing distraction I need to be productive. Movies I pretty much know by heart work best because I don’t need to see them to know what’s going on and I don’t need to pay attention to the dialogue if I don’t want to because I know what will happen next. Plus I can still somehow enjoy them. Works out best to multi-task. To get all nerdy for a minute, I remember on X-Files Mulder used to watch Ed Wood movies to free up his mind when he had a particularly difficult case he was trying to solve so I guess I’m not alone even if the only other person I know of who does that is fictitious, lol.
I use yahoo music in yahoo messenger, has lots of stations.
they have a station “lite office musics”and it streams lite musics for office workers!
I usually listen to soft rock and modern country channels.
Binaural beats sound interesting. Can anyone recommend some downloads or tracks to buy?
hey john – i’ve been using an iPhone app called mindwave – lots of different options, and they update it pretty regularly
I’m intrigued with “Binary Beats” too. I almost always listen to music when I’m designing. I like Bossa Nova or mellow Electronica. Sometimes if I’m working on something trendy I’ll switch to dance music.
I have a binaural beat generator on my iPhone but would love to have one on my laptop. Are you aware of any binaural beat programs for the Mac? (free options would be great)
Have some playlist for work! Some good old rock + A.R. Rahman + some Indian music. Worked wonders!
I prefer music without lyrics or the good old classic jazz. always listen with itunes or grooveshark