Lately my "writing music" has included, but not limited, to the following albums:
Lour Reed, American Poet
The Jesus and Mary Chain, Psychocandy
Rimsky-Korsakov, Scheherazade
Blonde Redhead, Sit Down for Dinner
Warpaint, Radiate Like This
Igor Stravinsky, Bernstein Conducts Stravinsky
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Hi Tucker, mostly 90s music. Smashing pumpkins, the cure, cranberries a lot of Sara McClanahan
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Billy Kwack great bands/artists. love them all.
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I mostly have the tv on to news or some movie.
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Asmaa Jamil I bet a lot of writers do that, but I know I couldn't help myself and I would end up just watching whatever was on.
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I have to have silence when I write, otherwise my attention goes to the music or TV and I don't get anything written. Although, I seem to do okay in the summer when I sit outside and there's all the neighborhood noise: engines, kids playing, dogs barking...
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I do listen to music when writing but what I really love to do when writing is listen to screenwriting podcasts. I love Film Courage and Indie Film hustle.
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I prefer some ambient stuff or some slow movie OST's in the background. Nothing too distracting, basically :)
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I listen exclusively to death metal while writing. Nile, Carcass, Suffocation, Obituary, Morbid Angel, Autopsy, Bloodbath, Hypocrisy, all the classics. I like the intense vibe of it and it helps me focus :)
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Either the PGA, LPGA, or DP. Sometimes Star Wars/Star Trek. (picture googly eyes)
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Tucker Teague I used to do that to maintain a mood, but I don’t do it anymore.
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"Running Wild" by Airbourne on repeat.
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I write without music most of the time, Tucker Teague, but I've mainly been listening to 2WEI's songs "Survivor" (a cover of Destiny's Child's song) and "Warriors" (a version of Imagine Dragons' song). I listen to them when I write suspenseful and action scenes.
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All time writing with music, definitely pushes the flowing mood. Sailing from classical music to hard rock during the flow ride. All inclusive.
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Not a thing. Silence.
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I have ALWAYS found certain genres to help with stabilizing my mind and allowing me to achieve Gnosis while creating (The Pure and Intimate 80s, Deep Closet and Obscure 80s, 80s Movie Soundtrack Music, 70s and 80s Theme Songs, Smooth Jazz and Easy Listening, 70s and 80s Soft Rock)....
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Alicia Vaughan I love listening to podcasts, but my mind gets pulled into them too much for me to also be writing. What are your favorite screenwriting podcasts?
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Jaap Ruurd Feitsma I sometimes listen to ambient music for the same reason. I also find that listening to music I've heard a million times works as well because it's so familiar my mind can listen but also be on listening autopilot.
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Pat Alexander I'm basically totally unfamiliar with death metal bands. It's not my thing so I just don't know much about the genre. But I checked out some of the bands you listed. I can see how one could write to it. Still not my thing but very intense. And the musicianship, amazing.
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Geoff Hall Sometimes I find music helps with the mood and sometimes it's a hindrance. And sometimes I wonder if it's guiding me in the wrong direction - making me falsely feel like what I'm writing is great.
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Scott Sawitz Thanks for introducing me to Runnin' Wild.
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Maurice Vaughan Thanks for introducing me to 2WEI. Those are great covers.
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Miquiel Banks I'm assuming by Gnosis you mean that combination of "flow" and "insight" that many of us hope to enter as we create. I find music can help a lot with that, and also silence.
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Tucker, what I listen to when I'm writing depends on the kind of story I'm working to tell. (Sometimes, I write in silence.)
My current project is "Long Way," a comedy where a food server in modern-day St. Louis and her office-worker BFF are so disenchanted by their present jobs that the twosome decide to follow in their grandmothers' footsteps...and become truckers.
Okay...if I'm going to write a screenplay about trucking, I'd better be listening to country music.
Actually...I'm not only writing right now with some comedy albums as a soundtrack; I'm also listening to some airchecks I found on YouTube. (Several airchecks came from a couple of St. Louis stations that were Top 40 biggies in the 1960s: WIL and KXOK.)
Great question, Tucker! Thanks for posting!
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You're welcome, Tucker Teague. 2WEI has other covers too. I like listening to songs, instrumentals, and movie scores that are in the same genres of the scripts or scenes I'm writing.
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I listen to music that totally fits or goes with the subject matter i'm writing about. That way it brings it more alive for me, and helps to place the images i need to finish the screenplay, right within the eye of my mind's vision. I assumed everyone did it that way.
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Me too, Dwayne. Right now, it's mostly Tangerine Dream.
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Jim Boston Your story sounds intriguing. And I agree, the music I listen to needs to match what I'm writing. I never considered there could be vintage airchecks online. I just checked out one from KXOK. Totally fun to listen to.
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Dwayne Pagnotto That's what I tend to do.
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I don't specifically listen to music that is related to what I'm writing particularly, it's whatever Spotify decides to play on my playlist. I do have go to artists such as This is Not America, Scissor Sisters, The Ramus, even Meatloaf to name a few off the top of my head.... the reason being that sometimes song lyrics end up weirdly being helpful with getting around mind blocks and setting the creative cogs turning again.
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Rachel White I too sometimes let Spotify choose my music; often via the playlists they serve up based on my listening history, etc. I also remember writing a screenplay years ago when I was listening a lot of Coldplay and U2 over and over because the music and lyrics were providing a lot on serendipitous writing moments for me.
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Tucker Teague when I was writing one of my first gothic tales, I recall days when I need to sustain the mood and played one track, Gary Numan’s I Die You Die.
Nowadays, I don’t need any outside help when writing, but sometimes when I need to clear my synapses before doing so, I play Coltrane, Miles Davis or McCoy Tyner. I find that helps bring me a little clarity of mind.
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I often make a playlist of music that evokes the tone I’m trying to write. I have a background in radio, and I’m also a video editor, so I think about music and cutting to music all the time. Getting the right tone is important, plus creating a playlist is a great way to procrastinate!
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Geoff Hall Coltrane, Miles Davis or McCoy Tyner are great choices. Love their music.
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Geoff Hall AMAZING ! These musicians are a remedy for body and mind!
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Mike Boas that makes a lot of sense. And I create playlists all the time. I must be procrastinating.
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Tucker Teague For me, writing, pen, paper, Ray Charles, Frank Sinatra, BB King and others of today... a creative script emerges.
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John January Noble indeed they are, João! It kinda opens up the faculties.
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I used to listen to literally whatever I felt like, then I listened to solely instrumental stuff - I set up a playlist, mostly soundtracks but some classical, ambient numbers too. Lately for the project I'm working on, I've set up a soundtrack to match what I'm writing - some early 00's party music, and then some really quiet, ambient, nocturnal type sounds
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Zero. With today's tablets & cellphones, write wherever & whenever. Never heard of a tv writers' room where writers needed music to write.
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John January Noble I use pen and paper for all my notes and preliminary outlines. I think better that way. Then I switch to computer once I need to write my "official" outline and script.
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Adam Harper I have found listening to soundtracks can be very helpful.
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Dan MaxXx I wouldn't know what it's like in a TV writers' room, but I do enjoy both silence and music, depending on what I need, when writing by myself in my office or cafe.
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Geoff Hall exactly that
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Hans Zimmer, Junkie XL, Howard shore.
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@Tucker Teague Yes, continuing to write with pen and paper is still a great exercise for the mind. You still develop something much better, but without underestimating your computer.
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A good coffee for everyone
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Kevin Felix I'd never heard of Junkie XL before. Thanks.
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John January Noble A good coffee and BB King sounds so great to me!
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There's a song called "Countdown to shutdown" by The Hives. It just embodies everything about a show I wrote called Docking the Tail. I know it's expensive, but i want this to be the theme song.
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Evelyn Von Warnitz Claro, aliás, o café estava muito bom. Espero que você tenha tomado um bom café, Evelyn. Falando em bom, sim, BB KING é como tomar um bom café num dia de outono. Não ! Desculpe, tomo em todas as estações, mas no outono fica melhor, não sei se você percebeu. E, portanto, sai um bom roteiro. Acho que tem muitos com esse gosto aqui no STAGE 32. Boa semana no Stage 32!!!
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John January Noble Oh well, the brasilian coffee is one of the best! We have some great tasty coffee over here also, so definitely have my daily great taste too for pushing my wordflow besides listenting to music. Have a great time here on stage 32 also. Grazias!
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Evelyn Von Warnitz your welcome !
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Evelyn Von Warnitz Brazil does have great coffee, just as Germany has great beer and great film productions!
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Jeffery Mack Great song. I wonder how expensive it actually would be. It might be worth exploring.
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^Looking into now, I might be able to get it for 5K but I have to have legal reach out for their licensing info...
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Baroque
Celtic - ‘Tis the season
2000’s hits
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Lately it’s been Hans Zimmers Dune Part one and two music
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Kevin Felix same, i love Worm Ride, Resurrection, and of course Lisan Al-Gaib
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Tucker Teague I find zero faults in this list!
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I never write to music - in fact, I usually write with ear plugs for a totally dead sound; it helps me picture the images in my head and watch them as if in a movie.
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At the moment the Ad Astra and 'The Keep' soundtracks.
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When I'm writing, I don't listen to music. If I listen to anything it's usually a movies or series from the 80s or 90s. For instance, right now I'm writing a mystery thriller pilot so I watch episodes of MIAMI VICE that are on Youtube.
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Jerry Robbins I've heard of writers doing that and also placing their desk in front of a blank wall so they have nothing to look at.
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Dig the playlist! Mine depends on the project, and I typically use music during the story design stage. Once I start writing dialogue I typically switch to nature sounds on an App/ or keep it silent aside from the occasional crackle of a candle. For me, listening to music while writing can sometimes influence my scenes too much. Then again I may purposely listen to the same song over and over and over for one specific scene,
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Tucker Teague yes, I have done that as well!