Computer screen glowing hour after hour ... when I'm writing it needs to be quiet, but there are hours when it is too quiet and I need your help. What do you stream on your computer?
I finally turned off NPR this afternoon, which is a usual companion, but it doesn't work when I'm composing ;) Tell me ... and tell me why it works for you.
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Connie, I like the quiet when I'm writing or reading but I also listen to Spotify occasionally...Patti Smith, The Talking Heads, Joni Mitchell, Paul Simon, Sheryl Crow...it's all good.
Does anyone have iTunes radio channel they prefer?
Shoegaze Radio on Pandora - since I was a college radio DJ in the early 90's - Shoegaze it is...
I'll stream Pandora with a Loreena McKinnitt channel. Her music is about 20% of what comes across but it's similar music with Celtic music and folk music. It's more of an emotive music and it helps when I'm doing photoshop work. When I'm doing matting and framimg out in the garage I'll listen to Oldies like Quicksilver Messenger Service and Jefferson Airplane among others including blues. That keeps me awake and more alert doing boring grunt work. Like you, I prefer quiet when I'm writing serious stuff unless it's more casual writing. In that case I prefer standards from Eva Cassiday, Linda Ronstadt, Norah Jones. It's relaxing music and the lyricism is good.
I've tried making a Pandora channel -- but it takes too much time. My choices tend to R & B, jazz - I've got a Bonnie Raitt channel that includes Eric Clampton, Queen Latifah, James Brown, Tony Bennett. I really like vocal music. I never could understand the lure of iPods -- I don't want to choose and download. I want someone to do it for me.
What about Spotify? Anyone use that and why?
As I recall, it was just a matter of specifying an artist and one of their songs, and they built a playlist from that, and then it was a matter of thumbs up or down on the playlist to fine tune it. I found a lot of artists I had never heard of before and wound up buying more music than I had in years. One was Eva Cassiday who had passed away at age 33 in 1996 and I had never heard of her. Her album "Live at Blues Alley" is a delight to listen to and might be of interest to you since you prefer vocalists. She's on Youtube and some video from that performance is on there. A particularly good selection is her version of Sting's "Fields of Gold".
Larry Berman
Do you get that at YouTube, Larry?
Larry Berman