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Qotw: What Do You Listen To While Working In The Studio? Music, Tv, Talk Radio, Silence?


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This weeks question comes from Mea (GEP), she asks: What do you listen to while working in the studio? Music, tv, talk radio, silence? Mea admits that the question has been asked before, but that newbies should have a chance to answer it, as those of us older ones may have another answer.

 

 

I use a TV in the studio, it was an old CRT 12" until lately, now a new LED 23". Getting some feedback and fuzziness that I have to check the power and coax feeds. I usually have it tuned in to Westerns or some other thing that I have often seen so that it is just noise, no need to really pay attention. Don't like straight silence in the shop. If I want real silence, I just take out the hearing aides :wacko: .

 

 

 

best,

Pres

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I answered this one before a while back and it was silence for me then. However, now I have a bluetooth speaker and I jam out to techno and trance music. Mostly stuff that has no lyrics. I have no idea who the artist are, Pandora just selects them for me.

 

No idea why I like this music.

 

I am assuming it has something to do with the uplifting constant beats to energize me to keep doing repetitive task. I have never listened to this stuff in the past, nor do I listen to it when I'm the car. It seems I only enjoy it when I am doing something that closely related to manual labor. 

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I prefer to listen to myself think so most of the time its quiet. But if there is music its either classical or acoustic guitar instrumentals.

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My Bluetooth headphones are a MUST. If I need to concentrate on things and need to be present for tasks like doing math for glazes, or designing a new piece, then I listen to music. Current playlist:

Space Lord (Monster Magnet)

Whatever (Butthole Surfers)

Rag and Bone (The White Stripes)

Voodoo Hack (Strange Daddy)

The Book of Love (The Magnetic Fields)

Fight Like the Devil (Paul Otten)

I Wish I Was A Punk Rocker (Sandi Thom)

Black Sheep (Gin Wigmore)

Got Your Number (Serena Rider)

Sing Sing (Serena Rider)

Hi Ho (War and Treaty)

Wagon Wheel (Old Crow Medicine Show)

Blood in the Cut (K Flay)

Snow (Red Hot Chilli Peppers)

Run the World (Beyoncé)

River (Bishop Briggs)

Middle Fingers (MISSIO)

In Hell I'll be In Good Company (The Dead South)

 

Joseph is quite correct in thinking beats per minute assists in concentration, and many of these songs fall into that ideal range despite not being techno or electronica.

 

If I'm doing something mindless, like throwing a form I can do in my sleep, or wedging, then I've recently grown a love for my Overdrive app, where I can get audio books from my local library. Currently working on a huge pile of Sherrilyn Kenyon brain candy. Please don't judge me!

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SILENCE !!!!

 

I do listen to the natural symphony: cardinals, blue jays, finches, woodpeckers, wood peckers, and my personal favorite: mourning doves. On occasion, Bea comes over for a visit.

Professor

    Hi Bea!!
 
Foxes run by, skunks come by, as do the coyotes and the deer.
 
Nerd
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My first choice is audiobooks. My taste in books is not terribly deep. I need to be entertained, and I can only devote a partial brain to listening, so it can't ask me to think too hard. I love murder mysteries and courtroom dramas. I especially love when an author writes a whole series of books starring a character that I like, because those series can fill out months of studio time! Even more if it is worth listening to the whole series again. My current favorites are Jack Reacher (love the books, hate the movies), Barbara Holloway, Harry Hole, and Kurt Wallander (love the books and the BBC series). 

 

My second choice is podcasts. Of which my favorite is the Tony Kornheiser Show. It publishes daily so I usually start my workday with it. It's consistently funny and smart, so it puts me in a good frame of mind.

 

It's rare when this coincides with a work session, but I think it's a real treat when there's an Orioles game on the radio when I'm working. It often works out on Sunday afternoons. 

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I have two 300 Sony CD players in house and have those  hooked to my sound system(radio amp turntable the usual stuff )with 7 sets of speakers run thru a switch box . One set in Office one set in living room 1 set in kitchen one set near salt kiln one set in BBQ area one set in kiln area 1 set in studio. All on separate volume controls  at various locations (complex system ) I pump music in all day long on Random play-when one set of 300 CDs gets old I switch to the other 300 CD player.Music is part of my creativity-It always has been.The mix is very eclectic .

Back in the 70s I used to listen to a car tape deck in studio as well as a reel to reel-the dust killed all those units and now the sound comes from a clean house environment .I have lots of complex systems set up here from rainwater collection to solar water heat and sound is just one more.

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I tend to cycle through a sequence of silence-music-silence-music. Today's playlist is: Grace Jones "Nightclubbing", Krishna Das "All One"; Alan Lomax "Texas Folk Songs", and R.E.M. "Up". The silence is enhanced by birdsong.

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Since I have my own studio and don't have to worry about annoying others, I listen to anything from Metal to Mozart.  All depending on my mood, though, sometimes I prefer to open the garage doors and listen to the birds, humming of the bees, and occasionally the buzzing of the mosquitoes...then I have to listen to the sound of my slapping them as they try for a free lunch!!  

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I have a radio and TV, I switch back and forth,  the radio stations aren't very good anymore  around here.  I listen to the TV more, like Pres it is something I have already seen and I use it as back ground noise.  I like to have noise in my shop and house,  I don't  hear all kinds of creaks and groans that make me worry.  Denice

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Like Kelly, I run the gamut on music....I start with loud, fast music, in the a.m.  then slowly start winding it down as the day goes by.  I love Tales of a Red Clay Rambler podcast, and in the evening I entertain myself with BBC dramas and comedies on Hulu...  I liked the  camaraderie of a community studio, but I am ADD enough to know I work better by myself.  And sometimes silence just doesn't cut it for me! 

 

Roberta

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I agree, Nerd. Working next door to the sculpture studio where they were cutting things on top of metal garbage cans and I'd go home with ringing in my ears from the noise, I really love silence with a natural backdrop of birds. Heard Sand Hill cranes singing to each other in a rather romantic mating call the other morning. Beautiful. And I live in town where it is still quiet.

Marcia

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General observations about sounds when I am working:

  • If there isn't something playing on the radio and I am alone, the voice of the potter talking (occasionally cursing) to his clay may be the only sounds. The clay doesn't mind my pun-slinging and is OK with dad jokes.
  • If the radio is on, it is more likely to be an oldies station.  Thankfully, I define oldie to include any number of classical symphonic works from the 18th and 19th centuries along with any number of 1960's an '70's groups with great horn sections.
  • If I am outdoors and doing (mostly) hand-building...the sound of the waterfall in the pond or the crackle of the fire is all that I need....well, maybe accented by an aluminum can, pop-top-ahhhh combination.
  • If the grands are in the studio with me, the only sounds that matter are the silly laughs that seem to extend right up to the time when a kiddo is siting on the side of the clay sink while Papa is spraying the signs of fun off of arms and legs.

Peace,

-Paul

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At my studio the sound of a busy road is all I hear, at home its the birds and other critters, I love my morning 10oz cup of coffee sitting on the back porch  listening and watching the great outdoors. No neighbors behind us, just a field and trees. I've seen all kinds of four legged and feathered creatures just sitting out there. Its a great way to start the day.

 

For those like me that have lousy radio stations filled with loud commercials and a few musical interruptions sprinkled about, I have Amazon Prime which includes Amazon Music, 1000s of free albums to listen to or just pick a genre and the songs are non stop. They claim they have 2 million songs to listen to

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