What music do you listen to when editing doom?

I was painting my sitting room earlier and was listening to some old rock and roll, (chuck berry to be precise) as it just seemed to help me keep going with the incredibly boring task.
That got me thinking, what music do you listen to - if any - while you work on a map and why?

I usually find myself listening to some pretty heavy rock (such as metallica or mod rock such as the who or the rolling stones) when I am building traditional doom levels but when I am builing something more experimental I generally listen to dance, hip-hop or electro.

I think its pretty obvious why I listen to rock when creating a tradition tech base or hell style level, but I cannot think of a good reason why listening to dance music feels right when I am attempting something original, maybe it just flicks some creative switch in my brain?

Now what do you listen to when mapping, sorting stuff out on xwe or even making new textures and sprites on photoshop?

Sometimes I listen to doom music itself.

Other times I'll put on ambient music to help me with the atmosphere of the map.

Some people work best with certain types of music, as long as it turns your switch on it's good!

I don't really listen to anything specifically to map by. I usually just listen to whatever I've been listening lately.

Although, occasionally a song or album or band will inspire me to do some map stuff. I've been thinking lately it would be cool to do a TC set in the places that Immortal writes silly songs about. Would make a good Hexen TC or something. Coming soon, fellow servants of Mighty Ravendark--Blashyrkh Doom!

I like listening to tracker music, MOD, S3M, XM, etc. Specifically, Purple Motion, Skaven, Necros, XTD, Dr. Awesome and the like.

I find it helps the production go faster if I listen to music while I map. I normally listen to some rock, music from Doom or music from games like Terminal Velocity, Megaman, Mario games, etc... I listen the soundtrack of the FlatOut series quite a lot too.

Usually In Flames, or Lamb of God. Though I have found myself listening to tracks from Episode 3 of Doom sometimes..

Classical.

Yeah I'm weird. But anything else tends to be more distracting.

Creaphis said:

Classical.

Yeah I'm weird. But anything else tends to be more distracting.

I actually find some classical music to be really really good in game music that give it a whole load of atmosphere. For instance I was playing Quantum of Solace on the PS3, (Which isn't a particuarly good game otherwise) and there is a level that takes place back stage at an large performance hall and you can hear a the band rehearsing various pieces of quite dramatic classical music as you play. This just gave the level a really good atmosphere and made it roughly twice as enjoyable as it would otherwise have been.

Anything that comes on Winamp playlist. It doesn't matter to me much.

I often listen to some of the ambient tracks from PSX Doom.

If Im not, I listen what I have in my winamp playlist. Mostly death metal, hardcore punk, crust, etc

I generally listen to whatever won't give me a headache while I'm trying to think. I find stuff like Nick Drake to be perfect for this.

Usually something that I can relate to the stuff I am making. For instance, when i was working on Nimrod. I was listening to the track Metal by NIN over and over while I was building a large section of a map.

Chrispaks said:

Sometimes I listen to doom music itself.

This helps a lot as it reminds me of maps that use a certain doom track in it, and makes it easier to gain inspiration when mapping. But often times I'm mapping with ideas already in mind and putting on music tends to be more distracting.

I often try finding a song for the map at the same time, and once I've found it I listen to it a lot. If I'm listening to something else than midis, then it's random music from around my HD, or an online radio.

I try not to listen to music while I work because I often find it devalues the music a bit and it turns out to serve more as background noise than music. But this is in part due to the fact that I lurve my music like I lurve air. Seriose bizness.

But when I do it's usually instrumental progressive/hard rock or metal or jazz fusion because that is what I listen to most of the time anyway. JT Bruce and Jean-Luc Ponty = Success.

Various light ambient oldies like Brian Eno, Klaus Wiese, Thom Brennan, Rapoon, Tangerine Dream, Runes Order and etc.

Charts, oldies, every now and then midis of the game...

Same stuff I usually listen to. Mostly Zappa and Magma.

Thrash metal.

I can't listen to music while I'm mapping. Breaks my concentration too much.

I like listening to NoFX anytime including while i'm editing (which i haven't done in a year and need to get back into doing) but if not that I'll listen to my ska playlist which is mostly reel big fish the aquabats and streetlight manifesto.

I typically try to listen to the music that I intend to put into the level. When that gets old, I listen to a similar style (techbase music in general rather than just one techbase track, like TNT MAP01).

Other times, I just load up whatever I feel like listening to.

Music is critical for me to the point at which it's almost impossible for me to map without music going (though I don't really require a certain style of music). As a result, I associate certain songs with making certain maps, and vice versa -- for example, when I hear Tool's "AEnima" I always think of the secret level from Inferno, whereas I associate NIN's "Year Zero" album with "The Dying End." It's weird -- I'll actually get visions of dragging vertices around and flashes of the sector properties window from WinDEU (which on some level is probably indications of psychosis...)

I was listening to Dark Side of Phobos and Delta-Q-Delta quite a bit yesterday, when working on my Master Levels project

Metal/rock/pop and video/pc game music.

Also I have sometimes the track for the map, so it helps my inspiration for the level.

I listen to Doom Midis lol

Recently, I've been listening to Mark Klem's MP3 tracks while speedmapping. It does actually help loads for motivation. All I can think of while listening to these as I map is going through the great classic maps they accompany, and the fanciful architecture and great gameplay those megawads are famous for, which only further inspires me. :P

That said, listening to music is indeed a great way to get the ol' mapping neurons firing.

WildWeasel said:

I like listening to tracker music, MOD, S3M, XM, etc. Specifically, Purple Motion, Skaven, Necros, XTD, Dr. Awesome and the like.

YES. :D

Very long, quiet tracks that don't break my concentration but are still pretty interesting. Vladislav Delay, AMM (1980s/90s), William Basinski, that kind of thing.

This is kinda "what music do you listen in your normal day" thread, doesn't it?
Well, usually, when i map, i listen to Tool, Guns N' fucking Roses, Metallica, and things like that. Although i've grown fond of the soundtrack of Jesuschrist Superstar lately.

P.S.: Any grammar mistake in this reply is beacuse i'm a little drunk right now :)

As with any project, I generally tend to listen to the music I'm using in the project. Hearing the music for the particular area I'm working on helps to maintain the mood throughout the work.

And hey, it's good to see that I'm not the only XTD fan around here. :)