Focus Music To Engineer By

This is the story of how I was finally able to concentrate on my work amid co-worker conversations after stumbling onto “focus music”.

My brother is also an engineer. He had a co-worker that played crappy music from a crappy radio at his desk. That problem was resolved with an FM transmitter tuned to his co-worker’s favorite station. They’re jamming our signal, man!

I have co-workers who are not engineers that need to discuss every aspect and event of their lives with each other. Coincidentally, they also play crappy music, but from a crappy Bluetooth speaker. Just as I begin to focus, they start yammerin’. My solution is to play music that allows me to concentrate through my bone-conduction headphones.

I’ve been a metalhead since there was heavy metal, almost. Hence the “freak” in CTRLfreak. But to get into a good design or programming flow, I need music that doesn’t divert my attention. For me, this means music with lyrics is out. And it has to be something dense enough to drown out tales of mother-in-law woes and bratty kid shenanigans while being something I can unconsciously block out as I need to concentrate.

My Music To Engineer By List

3. Rodrigo y Gabriela. These artists almost didn’t make the list because they are too good. While the music is instrumental, it is hard to ignore, and harder not to tap your foot to it. Therefore I usually listen to it to spice up mundane tasks. Did I really just say that? Anyway, here’s my Rod & Gab: Music to Engineer By Spotify playlist.

2. Lo-fi Chill Hop. I know, I know, this was unexpected for me too. I may be a metalhead but my tastes are fairly eclectic. Even so, I did not expect to enjoy this genre so much. To me, the best songs feature guitar or have a solid beat, not so much the ones with warbly piano or breathy vocalizations. My favorite compilation is Autumn Mix ’20, put together by The Jazz Hop Café, also on Spotify.

1. The ultimate music for programming that I’ve found is binaural beat music by Jason Lewis – Mind Amend. Specifically, Study Music to Increase Focus: Cognition Enhancer Extended, Orchestral 2 with Isochronic Tones. I don’t know how much the binaural beats contribute to this music’s ability to allow me to concentrate and block out distractions, but this music works. It is repetitive so I can block it out but not too repetitive to be annoying. Bonus: it is three hours long with ads only at the beginning, so I don’t have to Skip Ads (a distraction) very frequently.

What is your favorite music to engineer by? Let me know in the comments, I’m always looking for new tunes.