If you’ve read a single blog post on my site you know music is a huge part of my life. I’m a double musician (piano/guitar) going to school for music production technology with an emphasis in composition. However, I am (and have always been) heavily involved in technology—particularly web development. Naturally, these things all mesh together. I have music playing (or am playing it) at literally every possible second of my day. If I’m awake 16 hours in a day probably at least 13 hours of it involved music somehow. However, the type of music playing depends on what I’m doing.
Designing
Typically if I’m designing I’m listening to ‘creative’ music. Typically these are the songs that would get me the weirdest looks by people if they were around. Admittedly, a lot of this music is weird but that’s exactly why I choose to listen to it: it’s different. When I’m designing I’m obviously trying to think creatively and flowing. Metaphorically, I enjoy the creative, flowing avant-gardé nature of the music, but also appreciate the underlying structure which typically adheres to the rules of music. This is exactly the way good design is! Refreshing, flowing, and different, but while adhering to the standards of design—both social and natural laws such as line-width and -height.
Typically when I get an album that inspires me, I stick to it for a while until it doesn’t. For a while this was The White Stripes’ Get Behind Me Satan, which is still a monumental album in its rawness. For a while it was Jack White’s other band The Raconteurs and their second album. It truly depends on my mood at the time but others I’ve listened to while designing: Chevelle, Counting Crows, Dave Matthews, The Derek Trucks Band (check out their new album Already Free now), Evanescence, Five for Fighting, Hootie & the Blowfish, James Morrison, Jamie Cullum (this is a relatively new find for me), John Mayer, Kings of Leon, and even Tenacious D.
Coding
Writing code is another story. Arguably, the process of writing code is typically not as creative as designing, assuming you are coding an existing design. Coding is often simply repetitive tasks. Music I listen to during this phase of development typically reflects this. Often I’ll listen to music that, though sometimes repetitive, has a driving force that “pushes” me along. Examples include: NIN’s Ghosts albums, Blue Man Group (haha, yes), Deftones, Kasabian, The Killers, Rage Against the Machine, She Wants Revenge, and System of a Down. You’ll notice most of these are “heavier” than the ones I listen to while coding. Quite literally, I need that extra drive to fuel long, boring coding spells.
Feedback
What about you? What inspires you to creativity, or pushes you to develop your work?
New blog post: Music I listen to while working on web projects http://bit.ly/jzVtW
This comment was originally posted on Twitter
Hi. Happened upon your blog.
I drift toward John Mayer’s music when I need to focus or need some creative inspiration. When I’m in my office at work, I tend to listen to the radio. I suppose I need the variety. When I need to clear my head, I listen to Michael Buble.