I live with a lot of other people and rarely get quiet time when I can focus anymore. I usually use asmr with no talking as a way to chill out my brain and focus but it just doesn't drown out other sounds how I want it to so I'm trying to find other suggestions.
I've tried white noise and brown noise but found both seemed to trigger my migraines for some reason or were just too boring to keep me from being distracted. I found matching up soundtracks to books I'm reading fun but I read a lot of different stuff and right now it's been a lot of nonfiction which is harder to try and find stuff to match the vibes of so I'm trying to find stuff that's more neutral vibe-wise but still interesting enough to help keep my brain engaged.
by CaptainMacAlfie
12 Comments
Video game soundtracks. They’re literally designed to keep your brain engaged without distracting you from what you’re focusing on.
Skyrim, Journey, Minecraft, Hollow Knight, Stardew Valley, Disco Elysium, and the entire Lo-fi Zelda ecosystem carried me through college reading.
Look into lofi. It’s usually pretty chill and no lyrics. You can also match it to the vibe of your book.
There are a lot of YouTube accounts that stream it.
Com Truise
BADBADNOTGOOD, is a mostly instrumental band, slick new jazz/hiphop instrumentals, always works for me
Film scores are great. (The instrumental music not pop music soundtracks.)
Joe Hisaichi (Ghibli/Miyazaki movies), Ennio Morricone, and John Williams are obvious starting points.
I listen to classical music. Anything without lyrics. I also listen to fantasy instrumentals. Check out Celestial Aeon Project.
Cello covers of popular songs are fun.
Your brain gets the satisfaction of recognizing the song, but if it’s just the instrumentals without lyrics, it’s not too distracting or anything. I usually read in silence but a former partner of mine would listen to these when we read together separately, and I didn’t mind a bit it playing in the background.
What I sometimes do is I put one track that I like a lot on loop. It doesn’t really matter what said track is, if it has lyrics or not. It’s distracting at first but I find that it quickly morphs into comforting background noise. This is probably not for everyone and I can see why some would find this if not distracting, at least annoying.
I listen to thunderstorms mostly when I read. When I’m trying to concentrate at work though, I listen to binaural beats. Usually 40Hz.
If you have spotify, try my “Unplugged & acoustic & laid back” playlist
“Night rain” or “peaceful piano” playlists on Spotify.
Ambient or lofi