My work is a mix of 3D modelling, painting, and coding. For the modelling and painting I'm like that girl sitting with her cat by window ledge; the work flows with the music. When coding music is way too distracting, it requires intense mental effort. Same for technical animation; understanding how objects move is hard and I would get nowhere with psytrance thumping away in the background.
My personal preference when working is an Ambient collection fron the Silent Hill series: https://youtu.be/Yxd-X8P-GtY
It is incredibly atmospheric (if a bit "depressing") and helps me embody the patience and clarity needed to produce good work.
But: back then when Infected Mushroom and Skazi were top of the pops artists, I lived far away from work and had a long, boring, stuck in traffic bus commute. Psytrance excelled in making me feel alive at moments where I was basically stuck in a box.
That’s not how I need to feel at work, ESPECIALLY when it comes to coding. Maybe I’m not a super hacker type that just has programs flowing off his fingers — I have to think hard, even about naming functions and classes.