I missed the original post, so I will chime in here. I like classic
rock 60’s, 70’s and etc. except for rap. I have a small basement
studio and it is just me and my goodies. I like to rock out and feel
the music as well as hear it. It gets the creative juices flowing
and gets me in a rhythm. I am 60 something and I grew up during the
rock hay days. Lead Zeppelin are one of my favorites.
Ken Moore
Music enables me to get to that semi conscious state where creativity
and work flow smoothly. Depending on my mood, I can listen to
anything from the radio (and be surprised), or almost anything except
for jazz that to me annoyingly goes nowhere but up and down. 
And
the music is usually LOUD. That’s in the studio. In my gallery, I
play modern gentle Berbere songs, spiritual enhancement sounds, and
sometimes turn on Fashion TV. Keep shining everyone, D.
the U.S. government now does not allow pandora to be heard by non US listeners
Sure, blame it on the government. Pandora itself is restricting
their product to US IP addresses because of copyright concerns. The
government has nothing to do with it beyond being one of the hundreds
of signatories to the Berne Convention on copyright. Blame the music
publishers instead.
Al Balmer
Pine City, NY
The mark of a responsible craftsman is to know which is which, and to work accordingly. What matters is the quality of the final product, not the soundtrack (or not) playing at the time.
Yeah, Brian, I can walk and chew gum at the same time, too. Back in
the days before IPods and the like, radios often weren’t permitted
because of the warfare they caused over what was played. 20 people
will never agree on that, so they just said No Radio. Beyond that,
the OP’s world is a bleak place indeed.
I’ll say again that
has a few thousand classic concerts, all for free. We don’t like
having to change music (THAT I don’t like in a work day), so we have
gone to ITunes radio. ITunes is a free download to manage the IPod,
but look down a bit and there’s a radio function in the library
section. It simply links to many of the hundreds of streaming radio
stations around the world - no mystery, but they’'re all in one
place. Jazz? KCSM is our local jazz station. Right this minute
they’re on pledge time, I’ll warn you. Jo-Ann lives on KCSM. We also
like Azur Jazz - Jazz from France, if you can believe it. I like the
different mix they have.
audio books, the h.p. lovecraft literary podcast, interpol pandora
station, pig radio, heavy industrial mix or classical depending on
my mood.
On the headphones issue, I like having music or books to aid
concentration, but I also like to stay alert to my environment… so
I will wear only oneheadphone, volume low. Problem solved- I still
hear everything around me perfectly well, but I can also enjoy my
music without inflicting it on others
Somebody said :
Headphones are a problem because it indicative that person does not want to be there, so he/she wears headphones to block the outside world. "
to which Jakob (correctly) replied
sorry, it's simply not that black and white.
Absolutely !. Just because someone wants to listen to music while
working doesn’t necessarily mean anything more than that they want to
listen to music while working. Even if it did mean a person felt
their job was boring or tedious at times doesn’t necessarily mean
they don’t want to be there, either. Music at work has always been
important, and sometimes essential , to me. It makes time go by
faster and tedious, momotonous jobs less stressful and/or boring.
Enough said. Somebody wants to come over here and question or judge,
or project their issues onto my reasons for wearing headphones or
blasting the stereo, we’re going to have a problem (^8.
Dar
sheltech.net
Music is essential for me at the bench. On a busy day, my phone
doesn’t get plugged in for a few hours, but generally, the first
thing I do is connect it to the speakers hidden under my desk, and
put my mp3 collection on random.All sorts of music, but I do
particularly like electronic music, either ambient stuff, or pounding
techno or trance. The former for gentle work, the later for rhythmic
work. I usually have the volume low, and I don’t listen to a lot of
music with lyrics that really matter, so I don’t need to directly
listen to it. It just has to be there. The function of music is
complicated - I’m not personally in favour of headphones,
particularly in a shared workshop, but I do think that music is
essential background noise, far, far nicer than listening to the
ultrasonic cleaner or the CAM mill. When I’m in the act of using
tools, I tune out the music, but for those moments in between, when
you’re centering yourself for the next stage of challenging work, a
few seconds looking out of the window and listening to the beats can
be rewarding.Of course, if I’m writing or researching, it’s a
different story. Then it’s a non-stop diet of Radio 4, with the
volume only turned down when the dreaded theme tune for the Archers
begins (this will probably mean nothing if you like outside the UK).
Even my baby daughter listens to Radio 4.
Jamie Hall
http://primitive.ganoksin.com
I realize I am probably alone on this one, but I use the TV to quiet
my left (?) side brain. Music distracts me because I pay too much
attention to it. If I turn it down, I find myself straining to hear
better, pausing to listen, or jumping up to sing along. Silence
distracts me, making it difficult to focus. So I tune my 10" studio
TV to channel 242 for all day reruns of Law & Order SVU and NCIS -
both very audio-oriented so I don’t have to watch to keep up. Of
course I’ve heard every episode several times, so don’t NEED to look
up. If that station is showing something I haven’t seen, and I find
myself paying attention, I pop in some movie I’ve seen 100 times,
and let the soundtrack keep my inner critic quiet. A Knight’s Tale is
a favorite, Racing Stripes, Taxi, Gosford Park, Babe - all good. I
might look up once or twice for a favorite scene, but find I’m most
productive with favorite movies or TV in the background.
Thanks for the great topic!
Blessings, Sam Kaffine
Sterling Bliss, LLC
I am absolutely sure that most of the shops do exactly as you describe, and that is why I advice to be very selective in which job offer to accept. The fact, as you put it, of been outvoted on this issue is the very proof of rarity of shops appropriate for mentoring.
Better some of the people in the shop wear headphones than the music
blares for all ears to hear.
Having lost some of my hearing from years of hammering metal, and
alread y hearing impaired to being with, I ended up with cochlear
implants. However, I am extremely sensitive to sound, and the high
pitch whine of the flex shaft drives me bonkers as well all other
power tools, so when I work at my bench, I simply “unplug” - turn off
my cochlear implant processor, and work in blissful silence. I can
make all the noise I want, and I don’t have to listen to it. That
being said, I do highly recommend you wear ear protectors when you
are hammering, or dealing with loud machinery. Can save your hearing,
sanity and cut down on the headaches brought on from hearing. I once
got a migraine while teaching a class to use a power hammer, but boy,
it was so much fun using it! I’ve paid a stiff price for being a
metalsmith, but I will remain a metalsmith till I drop dead. Metal is
too much fun to work with.
Joy
I have to agree with Leonid; headphones have no place in a shop
environment. However, I see it as an issue of both safety and
professionalism.
As far as safety goes, we’re not playing with plasticine. There are
torches, liquid metals, sharp objects, toxic fumes, stuff that
explodes, etc. The potential for serious physical harm is great and
being able to hear what’s going on around you could save your life.
Fortunately, it doesn’t happen often but the potential is there. I
don’t know about the rest of you but I’d kind of like to know what’s
going on at least a nano-second before the sh*t hits the fan.
With regard to professionalism, assuming that one is working in a
"traditional" environment; how approachable is somebody wearing
headphones? It might be a generational thing but I don’t find
somebody wearing headphones very approachable. I feel like I’m
interrupting them even if my reason for doing so is overwhelmingly
important. It also does little to create a group dynamic. How can a
group of individuals work as a team if everyone is isolated via their
headphones? Headphones don’t do much to foster learning either. It’s
impossible to mentor someone who has isolated themselves. Yes, we’re
all artists but in a shop environment how much creativity are you
actually allowed? Re tipping or soldering a jump ring aren’t exactly
the most creative of pastimes. If your purpose is to learn the trade
you need to be engaged.
If you’re working solo, by all means, crank up the tunes and rock
out to whatever floats your boat. For me that would include
everything from Japanese punk to Vivaldi, Chopin, Rachmaninoff, Etta
James, Green Day, Eric Clapton (in all his incarnations), and weird
stuff that only me and 10 other people have ever heard of. In a
group, however, sometimes silence is golden.
Just my 2 cents,
Richard
audio books, the h.p. lovecraft literary podcast, interpol pandora station, pig radio, heavy industrial mix or classical depending on my mood.
Mine goes to eleven on all genres.
Aaron
Hi Sharon,
[snip] I could wear headphones but as I am also the TA for one of the beginning metals classes, I want to seem approachable to the students when they have questions, even outside of my official class times. I started playing music during work time in my class once I found out that some of the students were afraid to use some of the tools- like the drill press- because they thought it would be too noisy. It relaxes the atmosphere considerably, although so far this semester most of my students hadn't heard any of the music I've played (not that I'm entirely surprised). Another TA plays NPR.
Although I’ll joust with Leonid about headphones when working alone,
when you’re teaching, they’re an absolute no-no.
Two reasons:
(A) you’re right, they do make (generic) you seem unapproachable. If
you’re there to teach, or TA, make sure the kids know your head is
with them, not somewhere else.
(B) vastly more important: safety.
Your ears are the best tool you’ve got for keeping tabs on what’s
going on in the rest of the shop while you’re concentrating on
helping the student in front of you, or looking through an optivisor,
or anything else that prevents you from scanning the room. You can
hear the sound of a mis-adjusted torch behind you, or someone
losing something into the buffer for the third time in the last
minute. Equally, if you keep an ear out for certain words like “I
don’t understand…” or “how’s this go?..”, you can go over and help
them before they get frustrated enough to come up to you. Once you
know your shop, you get to the point where you know what every tool
sounds like when it’s running well. This gives you a bit of an edge
in preventing accidents, because you’ll eventually be able to pick
out the sounds of (tool X) when it’s not running well, or
somebody’s doing something stupid. This may buy you enough time to
stop them before anything goes seriously wrong.
When I was teaching Adult-Ed, my students occasionally joked that I
had eyes in the back of my head, but it was really just that I made a
point of listening to the whole shop while I was looking at
whatever it was in front of me.
Regards,
Brian Meek.
Wow! I guess there is no breaking down the walls! I’m glad that I
work in my home studio and not in one of those “rarity of shops
appropriate for mentoring”. Is laughing or smiling not acceptable in
those either? I wonder do they have windows with sunshine or rows of
tube lighting with the buzzing sound that sucks the joy out of you.
Keep it light folks I’m just kidding! I almost always listen to music
or books while working. It seems to lighten the mood and I am more
focused. Oh Well! I guess I’m just a schmuck!
"what do I listen to in my studio?"
the birds outside…
Dance Music (techno) is great for working with hammers. When I work
late at night I don’t want to offend my neighbors so much so I wear
headphones (and no, I don’t hammer at night, unless it’s light
hammering). Maybe some times I tell myself (I am my own boss) I
don’t want to be there, but sometimes I feel there is nothing better
but to be working at night with my headphones on (RCA Wireless).
I listen to everything but rap and modern country, on Pandora,
Live365, Accuradio and TuneIn. Lately I’ve been watching dance music
videos from a channel in Hungary.
Alright, I was born with the television on. I started crafting in my
bedroom at an early age listening to 60s and 70s pop music. For some
reason I feel a need to have talk or music in the background so I
can cut out silence which I can tolerate for only moments. As a child
I was HD, that was before ADD or ADHD. I’ve learned to manage it a
great deal.
TL Goodwin
The Pacifik Image