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A question for all Warhammer players, fantasy or otherwise. Which do you prefer when you're working on models or gaming? Do you like it nice, quiet, and peaceful? Or do you find it hard to concentrate without some great music or a favorite podcast blaring in the background?

Personally, I listen to WoW Radio 24/7, and I don't even play WoW. They have some great music and it helps me work on set things. Of course, it's hard to think with it constantly going, and I'll mute it when I need to make a decision, but if I already know what I'm doing, I crave music. If someone irl is talking to me though, then it's impossible!

Music, definitely music for me, but someone in another thread had the great idea of listening to DVD director's commentary.

Yup. Director's commentary, audio books, a podcast if I'm
desperate.

Ooo, which audio books?

Director's Commentaries, Opera, Classical, Neil Diamond, Yes. Nothing too loud, hard or distracting.

I subscribe to audible.com, and I'm working my way
through the Wheel of Time and other stuff.

More and more public libraries have audio books available
online as well.

I work with both. Not picky at all if there's music or whatever in the background or if it's dead silent. The only exception are children; can't stand the sound of one for more than twenty seconds without having to find the combat earplugs.

Heh heh. I'm listening to Ender's Game on audio atm, pretty good. Usually I listen to a band called Rock Kills Kid, greatest band ever. I listen to them all the time that I'm just lying around, so if I listen to it while focusing on something else, when I listen to it later, it gets my mind working on ideas for the something else. It's weird. Like, I play GTA San Andreas while listening to my Pod Casts, so every time I play GTA I think of the Pod Casts, I remember things I hadn't even heard the first time.

I can do more than just Tell you what I listen to, I can link you to it. Bask in my clearly superior musical taste!!

http://www.pandora.com/?sc=sh21641008804002814

Um, I find TOOL to have the perfect balance of softness yet still have awesome metal sounds.

my painting music is Limp Bizkit

TV in the background.

Movies or TV series on DVD if doing a 2 week paint fest.

LOTR extended editions with behind the scenes and Stargate are the best 'background' I've found yet.
I once watched SG1 series 1-6 in 2 weeks of 16 hour day painting sessions.

I just have the TV on. The TV in my room is hooked up to the one in the lounge room, so I get whatever's on satellite or digital TV. I really don't care, even if it's cartoon network. Unless it's MTV. There's virtually nothing worth watching on it. Otherwise, I leave the PS2 turned on so I can start playing while glue/paint/greenstuff is drying.

I have started listening to podhammer, the d6 generation and a couple of others while painting a gigantic horde army. Outside of that it is usually MST3K or Rifftracks.

I tend to just have the TV on, but its more for just some background noise... though it is crap at times cause i do get utterly distracted by programs i really should be distracted by... how to look good naked, ten years younger etc

I used to put on a movie while I was painting, unfortunatley I'd end up just watching the movie! I find TV DVD's are good or music, I need some sort of noise in the background that I can ignore.
BTW, the fiance doesn't appreciate when she is the background noise you are trying to ignore.....

I'm a little weird about that, because I just don't care at all. Usually I'm listening to whatever I was doing before I started painting. If I was watching TV or a movie and suddenly became inspired to paint I listen to the TV blaring in the other room. If I happened to be listening to a podcast or music, I'll keep listening to it (and my music runs the gamut of classical, instrumental, metal, country, and rock o_0). If the house was dead quiet (And it very often is) I listen to the dead quiet. The other night I'd left the TV on and WWE RAW came on. I didn't really want to bother going out there to change it... so I listened to WWE RAW... and I can say without a doubt that this years Smackdown must've been pretty impressive! ... Whatever a 'Smackdown' is....

I often paint with my friends at their house, and they usually watch DVDs of favorite shows and movies. I can't stand watching new movies while I paint, however. I have to watch them again later.

About my favorite thing, though, is when I get a chance to paint during the day. I open up the window over my desk and listen to the sounds of the neighborhood. It's extremely relaxing.

I always have something on... I paint at my computer desk mostly, so either iTunes, or podcasts. Recently, I've started using Netflix's Watch Instantly feature while painting too.

I like soundtracks..

last samurai
last of the mohicans
Lord of the rings (all 3)
and a few others

then mix in some Disturbed and some Techno or Industrial music and there you have it.

I don't like it too loud, but I don't like it too quiet either.

I've got boatloads of downloaded songs on my computer.
Everything from 50's to brand new stuff, Etta James to CCR to KISS to Eminem... and a bit of almost anything im between.

I go through and make playlists of songs that would be good together (hard stuff, soft, Eminem, dance, metal, 80's music that I grew up on, etc) I just start picking out songs, and figure out how long the playlist is. When I name the playlist, I put the time in the name (so, it might look like: 2h 23m Old School.pls).
When I know I'm going to be working on something & I know how much time I have, I pick a playlist of the right length.

If my wife's on the computer while I paint/assemble/convert, I just let her pick something she wants to listen to. She doesn't have much patience for many of my more common playlists.


Anything, as long as someone's not trying to have a freaking conversation with my while I'm working on my minis. MAN, that ruins my concentration.


Eric

My wife.

She stays home with the kids all day and once they are asleep, she likes to "talk." "Talk" for some reason requires absolutely no input from me other than an occasional grunt. By the time I've painted for an hour, she has finally ran out of words and is ready for bed, content that we have had time 'together' and experienced some great relationship building.

I listen to the official WH40K metal band: Bolt thrower


seriously. It's heavy metal while I paint.

TV (usually. Which is unfortunate because it always grabs my attention away from what I'm doing)
Ipod
DVD Director's Commentary (Gilliam's on the Criterion "Brazil" is excellent, unfortunately David Tennant's on Dr Who S3 is really boring)

PapaNurgle wrote:My wife.

She stays home with the kids all day and once they are asleep, she likes to "talk." "Talk" for some reason requires absolutely no input from me other than an occasional grunt. By the time I've painted for an hour, she has finally ran out of words and is ready for bed, content that we have had time 'together' and experienced some great relationship building.

Ah, the husband grunt. That worked until about 3 months into our marriage...unfortunately, she's caught on....

PapaNurgle wrote:My wife.

She stays home with the kids all day and once they are asleep, she likes to "talk." "Talk" for some reason requires absolutely no input from me other than an occasional grunt. By the time I've painted for an hour, she has finally ran out of words and is ready for bed, content that we have had time 'together' and experienced some great relationship building.

Awesome. If I could have got away with that, I'd still be married.

HUSBAND GRUNT 101:

First off, this is not OT.
It is slightly off, but still pertinent.
It is a way not to get in trouble when the droning noise in the background while you paint the silver pants blue is your wife.

Here we go. Very easy.

As men, you should all be capable of this.
------------------------------------------------
How many times have you had a conversation with someone while another part of your brain was doing something else (reading a magazine, watching a movie or TV show... whatever).
For most men, this is a regular thing.

THAT is the skill you need to call on in this instance, only to a lesser degree.

Situation:
You are painting your silver pants blue, when your "Pretty and Intensely Thoughtful Ally" (i.e. Wife, from here on referred to as PITA) wants to "talk."
GAH!
You have about a hundred silver pants to paint blue, and the PITA wants you to stop and listen to her.

Whatever shall you do?
You shall listen.

Occasionally, you will find it valuable to ask her to wait "two minutes" while you finish something that requires "a lot of focus" because you "don't want to accidentally ignore her."
Use that no more than once a week.

At this point, you need to flex the dual nature of the male brain.

Ninety percent (90%) of your attention can remain on the silver pants while the other ten percent (10%) "listens" to the PITA.
You need that part of you to listen, not only so that you can grunt, but so that you know when to throw in the following phrases at the appropriate times:

"You're kidding?"
"Really?"
"And then what happened" (The word happened can be replaced here with "did you do" or "did you say" or "did she say," etc. You get the idea)
"That b!tch!"
"Uh huh."
"Well, that sucks."
"Awesome."
"Crap. Hold on a sec. I just missed something. Let me do this for JUST a sec..." followed momentarily by, "Okay. Go ahead." (THIS is a very powerful tool, as it lends reality to your "listening." It is not to be used too often, lest is become shallow and see-through. No more than once per conversaion is my suggestion)

Really, there are numerous sayings you can insert here.
The key is to (say it out loud) "Go beyond the grunt!"

Some PITA's, should they realize you're not actually contributing anything, but enabling their yammering with your encouragement might throw out the old line, "You aren't even listening to me. Are you?" (or something similar)

Ah, HA!!!!!
This is where she thinks she has you... but it's where our ultimate plan comes to fruition.
See, you've been paying attention.
Not much. Only the obligatory 10%.
It's not enough to rehash her entire monologue of eye-gouging goodness, but it's enough to spout, VERBATIM, the last little bit she's said.
Personally, I find it MOST valuable to only give her the last 5 or 6 words she's said.
That might placate your PITA.
She still might be an unbeliever.

Now, for the death blow.

Repeat back to her the last complete sentence or 3 she's said.

If she asks for more, and wants you to go back farther, do it if you can.
If that's the limit of your 10% (which, in most cases, it will be), you have to become insulted and (only slightly) indignant.
How dare her say you aren't listening when, clearly, you are.
You've told her the last 2 minutes of the conversation. What does she want? A run down of everything she's said to you in the alst 3 days?
You're hurt that she thinks so little of you.

Now, sulk like the momma's boy that all PITA's think their husbands are.

Congratulations.

You may now continue painting your silver pants blue.

Yes, by the way, every step of this theory HAS been tried.
I've found it effective on:

Wife
Girlfriends
Daughters
Mother
Aunts
Sisters-in-law (I have no sisters)

MagickalMemories wrote:
[lots of stuff]

Oh really?

BOLT THROWER hell ya!

I listen to either metal or punk usually sometimes ska for something different.

P.I.L. is good too

Bolt Thrower is good. Having based their music off 40K, I wonder if they actually game.
Woah, weird image of Led Zepplin playing 40K.

skavenfreak wrote:Um, I find TOOL to have the perfect balance of softness yet still have awesome metal sounds.

Got to agree here...

I like music or the Tv on while modeling, and Tool is usually my music of choice.

While playing, it tends to vary. Most times I like some kind of background noise.

malfred wrote:

MagickalMemories wrote:
[lots of stuff]

Oh really?

Well, one week from tomorrow is my 12th anniversary, and I started doing this around anniversary #2....

So, yeah. Really.
It's gotten me by this long without fail.


Eric