5 Things: My favorite Music to Listen to When I Write
Friday July 12, 2019 | By Hieronymus Hawkes | 5 Things
I can write when its quiet. I can sort of write when the television or streaming device is playing. I can write when I am in a public space and its not horribly loud. I am pretty damned good at tuning this out (Just ask my wife.) But if I have my druthers I like to listen to music when I write. Here are 5 of my favorites in no particular order.
- Soundtracks are great, especially science fiction movies or adventure movies. My favorite of all time is Tron Legacy by Daft Punk. I listen to this pretty regularly. Pirates of the Caribbean are all pretty good. Ironman soundtracks are also great. If you are doing horror I would recommend the Diablo game soundtracks.
- Playlists are also great. I made a bunch back in the day when I started using iTunes. One of my favorites in one with Alterbridge, Breaking Benjamin and Three Days Grace. I listened to this a lot when I wrote my first novel, so it has become a nostalgia thing now.
- Build your own playlist for that project. I haven’t really done this all the way. I’ve started a couple of times but never really finished it. I have done like a soundtrack for the movie that might be made. That is always fun. But building the soundtrack takes considerable time, time I would rather use actually writing in most cases.
- Pandora is good for music if you don’t have anything particular in mind. I like Bread Radio for 70s stuff and Talk Talk Radio for 80s stuff. I have a bunch of other stations, too.
- Spotify is unbelievable. I can pick from so many things. Songs or Albums or playlists or a particular band or even a mood. My son in law made some really great playlists. I have been listening to a lot of 311 recently. Radiohead really works for me. It is eclectic enough that it doesn’t distract me.
What do you listen to? Who are your favorites?
I use Amazon Prime music. In general, I’ll have on one of their movie score stations (there are several built around composers—my favorite is John Williams—and some general stations). But because I’ve written historicals, I also have playlists set up with music from the eras and movie scores from movies that evoke the time periods and/or tone of my stories. (Like scores from as many pirate movies as I could find when writing my pirate series.)
Hi Kaye! I don’t think I have even looked at Amazon Prime for music. Your use of movie score stations sounds perfect. I’ve tried doing that on several others but find them lacking. I haven’t switched to Apple Music yet from iTunes, maybe that will be better. I like the idea of using John Williams a lot! Thanks for commenting!
I envy your ability to write with the TV on! If there is any talking or lyrics – forget about it. I’ve never tried writing and listening to a soundtrack. I’m not sure which music would pair with humor. “The Benny Hill Show” theme?
It’s certainly not my preference to write with TV on, but I have learned as a pilot to compartmentalize pretty well. Quiet works, but I tend to get up a lot more from the tension. Not sure what’s wrong with me. =) My wife needs complete quiet to do anything like writing or reading.
Your Benny Hill soundtrack idea made me laugh. I am not sure that would be any better. =)