Writing Background Music

[Stinnpack]

When I'm writing I like to have a preset playlist to listen to. Music usually helps keep me in the writing mood and I like to update my playlist depending on what kind of writing I'm doing.

I was wondering who else does this and what your favorite songs to write to are?

 

[T.Allen.Smith]

I've recently taken to playing Pandora radio in headsets while I write. Im using a created channel called Movie Score... Jon Williams type stuff.

So far I really enjoy the combination. I'm not sure if it's helped production or not yet...this is still an experiment in progress. Normally, I dig the quiet for writing.

 

[Chilari]

I tend to have an album I listen to which is then linked to one story, once I'm deep enough into a story. I also have a couple of albums that never got linked to one story that I use in the background when brainstorming or just writing something short. Currently my brainstorming albums are Babel by Mumford and Sons, Handwritten by Gaslight Anthem, This is War by 30 Seconds to Mars and In a Time Lapse by Ludovico Einaudi, with the latter combined with the same composer's Divenire starting to become associated with my new WIP, which is still in the planning stages (and in particular the tracks Divenire and Waterways).

Whether I go with folk, rock or neoclassical depends on my mood.

But I struggle to write without music. I need it there in the background, quiet and familiar, to eliminate distracting noises and get me in the right mood.

 

[T.Allen.Smith]

I've been listening to movie score on Pandora for over a week now and I must admit... it has helped.

All I can say is, John Williams is a genius at creating moods. I know that's no surprise to anyone. However, as much as I've enjoyed his music in film, I'm more acutley aware of the mood setting qualities during a writing session.