What do you listen to in the shop without losing focus?

[RoanSchwarzer]

I’m curious what everyone listens to during long cycles because I feel like shop audio is a whole personality thing. Some days I want music, some days I want a podcast, and other days I realize silence is the only thing that keeps me from doing something dumb. I’m still learning and I get nervous about missing a weird sound, so I’m always trying to balance staying focused with not going insane while the machine runs.

A specific moment was earlier this week when I had a longer run and put on a podcast, then realized I kept turning it down every time I walked back to the machine. It was satisfying seeing the cycle run clean, but I was also thinking maybe I should switch to something more low key so I’m not distracted. What’s your go to background noise setup, and do you have a rule for when it is music time versus when it is quiet time?

 

[TovalRandonneur]

My rule so far is music during known-stable long cycles, silence during setup, first article, and tool changes. Podcasts only when I’m deburring or cleaning up, because my brain stops watching the machine if there’s a story going.

 

[Kwanda_Rosman]

I treat it like two states. “Listen mode” for anything new or tight tolerance and it’s basically quiet. “Cruise mode” for long repeats and it’s instrumental or lo-fi. Anything with lyrics or talking makes me stop noticing what the machine is telling me.

 

[Alan]

If you are still learning, keep it simple. One earbud only or low volume speaker so you can still hear chatter, tool break, or chip packing. For CNC cycles, instrumental playlists work better than talk for a lot of people because it does not pull your attention away. When it is setup or tool touch off time, I go quiet every time.

 

[notRon]

Similar to @TovalRandonneur, I have a hard rule, which is setup is for silence, and production is for podcasts.

When I’m touching off tools, setting offsets, or proving out the first part, I need 100% of my brain on the machine. No music, no distractions.