Favorite Music?

[Alaric]

What kinds of music does the average programmer listen to these days while coding? I'm partial to Heavy Metal/Rock while programming to keep the energy up. What do you guys like to rock out to while coding? Include artists where if possible ;)

[Return 0]

I have a massive compilation of video game soundtracks (rpgs only) that I have gathered over the past few years. I typically listen to it as I code, especially since most of my coding now is geared toward the game engine I'm working on.

[Alaric]

Nice, I've heard quite a bit of the Final Fantasy series soundtrack on quieter days. The piano versions of Suteki De Na and To Zanarkand from Final Fantasy X are pretty impressive. It's amazing how far video game music has come since composers like Nobuo Uematsu have entered the field.

[chrisname]

When programming I like a silent atmosphere so I can concentrate. Otherwise I listen to black metal.

[Return 0]

Right now I'm coding to the Shining Force 3 Soundtrack mixed with Kings Field tracks....

[Disch]

Copy/paste from a similar thread about a month ago:


I listen to a lot of anime soundtracks -- mostly Yoko Kanno stuff (Cowboy Bebop, Wolf's Rain, Stand Alone Complex [SAC]). I also listen to some VG soundtracks off and on (Katamari Damacy ftw)

I often share songs with people on IRC, so I have a bunch of them uploaded to webspace already. Assuming there's no problem providing links here...

http://disch.arc-nova.org/ <--- sometimes NSFW, see below

^ generic web storage of a bunch of crap ^
While all the files on that page are currently SFW, I can't guarantee that they'll always be SFW (I sometimes upload nsfw stuff to that site), so if you stumble upon this thread in the archives 6 months from now....

Not all of that is anime stuff -- some of it is other weird stuff I've picked up... some of it is TMBG (the ultimate in nerd music -- love those guys)... some of it is my brother's band (they're surprisingly good).

Hopefully I'm not breaking any rules or anything. ^^

Most of the "wtf is this" stuff on that page is from SAC. I love that soundtrack. Inner Universe, I Can't Be Cool, Replica, and Torukia are among my favorites.

[helios]

I'm partial to Heavy Metal/Rock while programming to keep the energy up.

In that case, you might enjoy power metal. It's like regular metal at twice the speed.

Rhapsody (of Fire): Everything until 2001 is great. From 2002 on, it's more symphonic than power. They still have some great songs, but in a much lower proportion than their earlier albums. I think it's worth noting that I listened almost exclusively to their songs for over a year without getting bored.
Lyrics: The first five albums make the Emerald Sword Saga, a typical high fantastic tale. The other two follow a similar formula.
Favorite songs: Eternal Glory (properly listened to immediate after Heroes Of The Lost Valley), Land of Immortals (again, properly listened to after Virgin Skies), Rage of the Winter, Holy Thunderforce, Where Dragons Fly, The Wizard's Last Rhymes.

Sonata Arctica: To be honest, they only have a couple songs worth listening to. The rest is just too gay. Even for power metal standards.
Favorite songs: Unopened, San Sebastian, The Cage.

Sabaton: More heavy than Rhapsody, it's a relatively young band (they began around 2002-2005. Rhapsody began in 1995 and others like Manowar are even older) but really good. All of their albums are worth listening to.
Lyrics: An unusual theme, they sing about historical battles, usually from WWII.
Favorite songs: Into the Fire (Vietnam), Attero Dominatus (battle of Berlin), Back in Control (Falklands), 40:1 (battle of Wizna), Firestorm, Hellrider.

HammerFall: I found this one recently. I like them better than Sonata Arctica, but less than Sabaton.
Favorite songs: Templars of Steel, Renegade, On the Edge of Honour, Heeding the Call, HEarts on Fire.