Comments on: Pump up the volume

By: Andy

Andy — Thu, 12 Mar 2009 23:14:08 +0000

Oh! Here’s the link: http://www.simplynoise.com/
Oops! Should have been listening to the noise!

By: Andy

Andy — Thu, 12 Mar 2009 23:11:21 +0000

This little website may provide the noise you need with no cost! (Also I found that the website for the mac noise app doesn’t seem to be there anymore

Cheers!

By: Wendy

Wendy — Thu, 12 Mar 2009 22:05:39 +0000

I play my dance/techno and upbeat broadway CD’s loud while decluttering the house. The music gets my feet moving (too many years of marching band) and the job gets done faster and adds a bit of an aerobic workout.

If I have let the filing go to long, I put in a favorite movie and challenge myself to be finished by the end of the movie.

By: Fractal Dimension

Fractal Dimension — Wed, 11 Mar 2009 15:32:43 +0000

I found, that high-BPM instrumental music (like drum & bass) seems to work best for me when I need to focus on programming, maths and similar tasks.
Havent’t tried white/pink noise yet, but as an amateur electronic musician I don’t think I would enjoy it…

By: pixieopower

pixieopower — Mon, 07 Apr 2008 05:59:18 +0000

LOL. I am a waitress and i actually have a regular couple that comes to the restaurant Sunday afternoons SPECIFICALLY to do their filing, de-junking of mail, and small(ish) organization projects. While it works great for them I have had to remind them several times to warn me when they need a new trash bag. Six person booth with 2 people and a weeks worth of paper junk and it still over flows. I am going to give them this website next time I see them!

By: Tim Visher

Tim Visher — Fri, 21 Mar 2008 11:05:43 +0000

@Leslie: I kind of wish iTunes had a better discovery feature but it does, in fact, support beats per minute information. It in the song info->Info->BPM (near the bottom on the left). You’ve gotta manually enter it, but you can do this slowly over awhile, starting with music you know you like to listen to during certain types of work. Then, just create a few smart playlists and base them on the BPM value (i.e. 200).

One trick that I use to get a similar effect is I use the genre field like a value list and certain keywords mean that I think the song is “energetic” or “chill”. Then, I base my smart playlists on that. This catches the problem of a song being relaxing yet still fairly hi in BPM. Of course, you could just as easily make “fake” bpms that simply mean 60=relaxing, 120=normal, 240=hi-octane.

It would be really cool to find a program that counted the BPM for you, though!

By: Leslie

Leslie — Thu, 20 Mar 2008 22:18:03 +0000

I can’t really deal with white noise, but I don’t like to work in silence either (except for reading). The type of music depends on what kind of work I’m doing. Does anyone know of a program that tells you beats-per-minute of a song, or is that functionality built into iTunes or Windows Media Player and I just haven’t found it?

By: kimberly

kimberly — Wed, 19 Mar 2008 01:40:27 +0000

I have started listening to classical music when I work around the house or the office. I feel like it is helping with my productivity. I use a sound machine to help me get to sleep at night. I have a hard time sleeping if it is too quiet.

By: Rhynole

Rhynole — Sun, 16 Mar 2008 22:47:39 +0000

I can’t stand the silence. I need some kind of noise, but white noise is not it. I must be entertained at all times. So whenever I am doing any household chores(laundry, cooking, dishes, lawn care), I have my headphones on, either listening to music or talk radio. I find that I can get so much more done because I am not dreading the fact that I am working, but instead focused on something more entertaining.

By: Jason

Jason — Fri, 14 Mar 2008 15:34:27 +0000

I’ve been using this little program on my Macbook to create “pink noise” when my wife has the TV on too loud or the kids have noisy friends over. Not perfect, but it helps.

http://www.blackholemedia.com/noise/

By: Kris

Kris — Wed, 12 Mar 2008 20:13:05 +0000

The white noise machine is fabulous and we can’t live without it. Our boys use one, too. It’s the nicest ‘noise’ we’ve found ….

By: Lori

Lori — Wed, 12 Mar 2008 11:39:29 +0000

Whether I need noise or silence completely depends on the task, and the type of noise makes a difference, too. For editing or proofing difficult material, I need silence. For lighter fare, I can go with a familiar CD or jumbled cafe chatter. It seems to keep that part of my mind not really needed for the task at hand occupied, rather than thinking about all the things I have to do. But, if the background noise is the radio, TV, or a single conversation, I can’t do it — something about the unpredictability of not knowing what’s coming next on the radio and the inability to shut out conversations/broadcasts I can actually follow.

For general organizing tasks, laying out an upcoming project, working on my jewelry, and everything else, I do better with music.

By: Chip

Chip — Wed, 12 Mar 2008 01:39:57 +0000

I have a few choice stations in iTunes’ radio feature that I’ll put on in the background. This provides the noise I need to work, I don’t have to hear the same songs I’m familiar with and I just may come across something new.

By: amber

amber — Tue, 11 Mar 2008 20:51:57 +0000

i totally agree with what you’ve posted! i’m one of those people who cannot stand absolute quiet. i’m actually working in my home office these days without a TV or a radio, and it’s kind of driving me mad (though i can listen to music on my laptop if need be).

when i sleep, i don’t use a sound machine, but rather…and air filter. i cannot fall asleep with complete silence, and if i could, some random noise during the night would wake me. the fan in the air filter is perfect, because it drowns out background noise, but doesn’t distract me the way some of the settings on a normal sound machine can.

By: Tim Visher

Tim Visher — Tue, 11 Mar 2008 20:36:03 +0000

I have never been able to decide if I really am the kind of person that can work better with noise or without it. I *really* want to be a better worker with noise, but I think that the evidence may bear out that I focus better in silence. Problem is when I’m working in silence my thoughts really do flit around all over the place. It’s almost like the music or noise helps me to have little micro breaks every 30 or 45 seconds rather than being hyper-focussed for a long period of time.

For people who are using Macs, if you need a noise generator, I would highly recommend this terrific little app, Noise from Black Hole (http://www.blackholemedia.com/noise/). When I don’t feel like listening to music, it works really well, and it’s interface is really nice.

What I really want to know is how you can really test whether or not you work better with noise or not. I’d pay to find that out about myself.

Great post!

By: Dee

Dee — Tue, 11 Mar 2008 19:48:18 +0000

I was just going to post that as a ADDer I find noise to be key to getting my job done (I’m a writer) and I’m happy to see that I’m not the only one! Great tip – I use it for work already, don’t know why I never considered it for home use!

Dee

By: George K.

George K. — Tue, 11 Mar 2008 18:46:26 +0000

I prefer the sound machine offerings from Brookstone and Sharper Image–in fact the sound machine is the only reason I’ve ever had to shop at SI, which suggests one reason they’ve gone bankrupt. The Marpac machines are also sinfully ugly–they all look like they’re from a 1960s medical device company.

These sound machines are more expensive than most Marpac models but offer more options, too. Brookstone’s “tranquil moments” (ouch!) machine is particularly nice, as it has a few interesting sounds and divides them between sleep, relax and something like renewal or focus.

The Sharper Image machine has a lot of sounds but many are useless, at least for my tastes.

By: Michele

Michele — Tue, 11 Mar 2008 17:45:18 +0000

In addition to being conducive to work for some people, I think going to a coffee shop makes the task more fun, even if it is work or homework. It just seems less like drudgery to me when I do it there.

By: Robin B.

Robin B. — Tue, 11 Mar 2008 17:38:56 +0000

I’d actually recommend white noise for those who prefer silence (like me), but don’t always have that luxury. I have a Marpac 980 and it’s fantastic for sleeping, but at work I just use headphones and a white noise CD.

By: Tami

Tami — Tue, 11 Mar 2008 17:29:50 +0000

My friends & family find it odd that Starbucks is my favorite place to read. For some reason it seems I concentrate and enjoy my book so much more even though I am constantly people watching or talking with the Baristas. I find that my son (who has diagnosed ADHD) is the same way. Sometimes when he has a TON of homework…we will go there to work on it…just seems to work best for both of us!!! Glad to see I am not alone!