Building the right environment to instill a creative workflow is made much easier by having good music. It’s important to find a sound source that you don’t have to adjust frequently, to ensure that interruptions to your attention are few and far between.
I’ve talked about musical sources for coders previously, but recently I’ve found many new possibilities that deserve a sequel of their own.
PartyCloud (shown above, suggested by Tony Downey) is a unique sound mixing suite built in Flash that will mix and auto-sync millions of supplied tracks. WARNING: there are so many options and controls here that the site itself may distract you for hours.
SonosTerra mixes musical tracks with ambient background sounds (jungle, stream, ocean, and more). GoMix.It is similar, but more diverse: a sound mixing desk of music, natural sounds and environments that you can layer and loop. You can also link to and share your mixes.
From the other end, Steve Wolfram has taken the generative concepts behind his brand of math (and associated search engine) to create WolframTones, a music generator.
If videogame music is more your thing, Overclocked Remix is a community devoted to remixes and reimaginings of game music from every platform.
Since YouTube has allowed super-long video formats, a host of great sound sources have been uploaded. A few of my favorites include 24 hours of the engines of the starship Enterprise at idle; 75 minutes of thunder and rain; and a half-hour audio recording in the Amazon rainforest.
Soundcloud is home to a lot of long, free musical pieces, often recorded directly from the artist’s mixing desk. This 90 minute set by DJ Darin Epsilon at Avalon Hollywood, suggested by Snook, is currently on high rotate in my headphones. You might also enjoy the Sigur Ros-like stylings of Justin Beiber’s U Smile slowed down 800%.
There's plenty of classical music that is epic in scope, but this version of Beethoven's 9th symphony, stretched over 24 hours with no pitch-shifting and on constant repeat, may beat all of them.
Finally, previously mentioned You Are Listening To has expanded its roster of city broadcasts to include Austin, Baltimore, Minneapolis, and more.
What sounds and tracks do you suggest to listen to while coding? Add them in the comments below!