Shop listening recommendations

[Pat.Hawkins]

I'm running out of ideas as to what to play in the shop.
When tasks need full concentration I prefer something that's not too attention-grabbing.

At other times (like cleaning up and sharpening) I enjoy a podcasts or something more engaging.

Rather than influencing suggestions with some hint of my preferences, I thought it would be a good idea to keep the slate clean at the start and hopefully discover some refreshingly new material.

So what do others listen to in the shop and what would you recommend.......... or do you just prefer nothing?

Cheers

[WJ Guitars]

I like the thought to clean up and sharpen tools in the workshop. However, for me I am aiming to keep ahead with a new guitar build for a client that is scheduled to start in January 2024. I have made a start and at the moment am making the laminated falcate primary and secondary bracing for this guitar.

Wayne

[Taffy Evans]

Hi, this is a subject I ponder at times, and I have worked out some strategies.

As a repairer mainly I have found that music that suits my mood, the instrument I’m working on, or the task, will influence my choice. But mainly I do not have any music at all, especially when building. And if I do its not the radio as I like to choose my music, I can’t concentrate when female singers seem to favor singing the highest register they can manage, to me just short of screaming. Hahaha. Or songs that repeat the same line sixteen times over.

For me, t’s usually a mix of blues. If I’m working on orchestral instruments then I seem to favor light classical. Often classical guitar. I thought that playing meditation-type music might be less invasive but that appears to be an endless repetition of the same phrases over and over again, and that distracts me.

So, what I have done is made up my own playlists that suit the areas mentioned above using Spotify and pick from the library I have compiled.
Cheers Taff

[Andos]

I just enjoy the quiet and curse my earmuffs when I have to use a power tool.
But then I work in an engineering shop. We have machine tools and a radio blearing over the top all day.

[RodC]

I often listen to "the truth about vintage amps" in the workshop.
There is something about Skip's voice that I find relaxing, but I am working on a tweed champ kit (5F1) at the moment as well as a couple of guitars and a Uke.

[joel]

Too many to list, but here it goes.

Female fronted metal:
- Epica
- Lacuna Coil
- Nightwish
- Baby Metal
- Within Temptation

Rock Blues:
- Greta Van Fleet
- Kadavar
- Dorothy
- Marcus King
- Blood n' Stuff
- All Them Witches
- Quaker City Night Hawks
- Stonefield

90's Chillax:
- The Sundays
- Mazzy Star
- Massive Attack
- Portishead

Everything Else:
- Wet Leg
- Monkey 3
- Voyager (Perth band - highly recommended. Think 80's pop fused with metal. They were at Eurovision!)
- Tool
- Jeff Waynes (War of the Worlds)
- Rush
- Sumerlands
- Thrice
- Judas Priest/Iron Maiden/Metallica
- Sabaton
- Of Monsters And Men
- Neil Diamond
- Gilbert and Sullivan
- Dame Joan Sutherland (almost everything. Lucia di Lammermoor the Mad Scene. recommended)
- AC/DC
- Powder Finger (almost any Australian 90's rock act really)
- Malignant Aura (a mates band - only if listen you're into Doom Metal)

Podcasts:
- Jordan B. Petersen
- Data over Dogma
- anything with Stephen Fry

[Pat.Hawkins]

Some new material for listening - great!

Thanks Ros, I worked as a service tech. so the valve amp set is a good recommendation from you.

I'm obviously much older than you Joel as I only recognised a handful of names on your recommendations - but that was what I was hoping for - some refreshing material.

PS.....I found the Goons on BBC archive, but wow, they are hard work and demand constant attention. They were so quick I was often just getting a joke that was one behind their conversation).
https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b0072v ... des/player

Hoping there's still more to come

Cheers

[kiwigeo]

PS.....I found the Goons on BBC archive, but wow, they are hard work and demand constant attention. They were so quick I was often just getting a joke that was one behind their conversation).
https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b0072v ... des/player

Congratulations Pat....you're the first American I've come across who actually understands British humour.

[Pat.Hawkins]

Sorry to disappoint Martin, but Lower Barrington is in Tassie.

So the search continues
Cheers

[Mark McLean]

Joel's list is very eclectic! I like the range from Dame Joan to metal.
For me, if I am doing concentrated work there can't be any spoken stuff like a podcast or the Goons. Even vocal music can be distracting so I tend to quieted ambient instrumental. Sometimes jazz - Miles Davis, Keith Jarret, Alice Coltrane (rather than John), Stan Getz, Roy Hargrove. Sometimes folky/blues guitar and vocal stuff to try to have a good influence on the instrument I am working on - Nick Drake, John Martyn, Chris Smither, Jose Gonzalez, Milk Carton Kids, and lately Daisy Rickman. If I am cleaning up and I need energy rather than concentration it is 70s and 80s rock - Stevie Ray Vaughn, Steely Dan, Doobies, Pink Floyd etc, etc
I used to keep lots of CDs and an IPod in the shed. Now it is all streamed via Tidal. It is awesome to be able to call up anything that has been recorded in the history of the universe at a moment's notice. I listen to quite a lot of classical also. Tidal and Spotify are hopeless for trying to find classical recordings so I use Idagio for that. I still spend less on streaming subscriptions than I used to spend on CDs.

[kiwigeo]

Sorry to disappoint Martin, but Lower Barrington is in Tassie.

So the search continues
Cheers

Tasmania....might as well be a foreign country

[Dave M]

It's probably the dark winter days but I had a hankering after listening to Sad Eyed Lady of the Lowlands today. It didn't disappoint even after all the decades. I have no idea what he's talking about but I still love the whole sound of it.

This is probably not something to play in the workshop!

Dave

[Pat.Hawkins]

Foreign country?



Brisbane 1982.......... still not over it!

[Taffy Evans]

Hi, I forgot to mention this earlier, but I have a small TV in the workshop from years ago when, at times, I used to work at night.
I have now fitted a decent speaker to it and often play the Audio channels for music that suits.
Taff.