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Totally unrelated to hair metal, I need music that will help me concentrate, or at the very least, drown out noise and not be distracting. I typically need absolute silence when I need to read or concentrate, but its nearly impossible to get that at my place. So I was wondering if anyone else has the same problem and drowns out the noise with other music. I think it would have to be something classical...but if anyone has any other ideas, feel free to suggest

You could try this when you read, buy a cd with a recording of rain (or the ocean or some kind of white noise). It will block out the back ground noise, traffic, dogs barking, whatever and you won't even notice it. I live in the middle of nowhere and I rarely here a man made sound, however when I go to sleep, the wife and I always listen to a cd of rain.

Just an idea.

I know that a few years ago you could by "pink noise" generators. Pink noise is like white noise, but leaning more toward lower frequencies. This was supposedly superior for inducing sleep, which was one of the claimed benefits. I think Radio Shack carried them. Just a little box with a speaker and a volume control.

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Our greatest fear should not be of failure, but of succeeding at things in life that don't really matter.--Francis Chan

off the top of my head I'd recommend boards of canada, lamb or portishead. Very chilled out, not too intrusive, and absolutely amazing. Some of portishead's newest album is a bit noisy, but pick up a copy of dummy. Get Lamb's first album and get whatever you can by the Boards of Canada, it's all good.

Oh yeah and get an album called the K&D sessions by Kruder Dorfmeister. Most chilled out album ever released.

Have you tried some noise cancelling ear phones? I thought they were a joke at first, but the good ones work quite well. You can use them with or without music.

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Thanks TimD.

I've tried the Bose. They're unbelievable but they're not in my budget. I can't speak for the cheaper ones out there.

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Let thy food be thy medicine, and thy medicine be thy food.~Hippocrates
Strength is the adaptation that leads to all other adaptations that you really care about - Charles Staley
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Thanks TimD

Beats by dr dre, supposedly the best headphones/in-ear.
Costs a LOT of money.

good man - portishead are superb, not mad on their latest one but couple of good ones.


Aphex twin (bear with me...) did two ambient albums, but the second in my opinion is more ambient/noise than the first, which is more melodic.

Check out my fave track as an example - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w6CQRVODln0
(edit - and another - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZVvjXJen ... re=related)

If you are stuck I can "advise you of a location to preview it" :)

Some of it might seem a bit more suited to a heroin den but its a fine line (ambient that sooths and ambient that borders on haunting) so I conceed it may not be too popular generally

I also got this mix lately that I enjoy - Nihls Frahn, modern classical (its not too far from the normal genre but is some electronic stuff, just re-listening to it and theres some "glitch" ambient) http://cdn.official.fm/downloads/mp3s/9 ... 100328.mp3

Brian eno did some great ambient - Music for airports is around 6x 9-16 minute tracks, very minimal ambient.

Trance music (the proper stuff) without a doubt try the likes of john askew pumps you up 2 giv it your all 4 a workout!

Steve Reich - Music for 18 Musicians

Check it out on Youtube, with your eyes closed.

I've read in newspaper and our physics teacher told us it is the best to learn with classical music. It improves our concentration and those things...
I tried once with Beethoven when somebody was building house near mine and it worked.
But very stupid music, I guess it worked because I tried not to listen at all that **** .

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Don’t run if you can walk, don’t walk if you can stand, don’t stand if you can sit,
and if you sat, might as well lie down and take a nap.

@ Two bobs: fine music tastes. Personally I couldn't concentrate using Portishead it's too emotion ridden for me, but I'm probably a bit strange, as I found the latest Interpol album works great for me to fall asleep (usually within the first 3 songs)

IIRC I've had success with The Orb (e.g. The Blue Room) to drown out noise.

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I don't know where the blind could lead the sightless
but I'd still like to witness

You could try some post-rock, chill music that helps me concentrate: Sigur Ros, Powder! Go Away, *shels or some Dead Can Dance.