The soundtrack to your writing...

[BT Jones]

120 – Blue – Hollow sadness, destroyed heart

Prominent -

Minimalist –

Ambient -

130 – Ultramarine – Pure grief

Prominent -

Minimalist –

Ambient -

 

[BT Jones]

140 – Cerulean – Beautiful sadness

Prominent -

Minimalist –

Ambient -

150 – Cyan – Upbeat melancholy

Prominent -

Minimalist –

Ambient -

 

[BT Jones]

155 – Iris – Sad affection

Prominent -

Minimalist –

Ambient -

160 – Pink – Pure love

Prominent -

Minimalist –

Ambient -

 

[BT Jones]

165 – Cerise – Soulful love. Most of the ‘5s’ came from having too many songs that sort of straddled the two categories (in this case, 160 & 170) so I created one in-between.

Prominent -

Minimalist –

Ambient -

170 – Violet – Soulful

Prominent -

Minimalist –

Ambient -

 

[BT Jones]

175 – Emerald – Upbeat, uplifting soulful

Prominent -

Minimalist –

Ambient -

180 – Green – Reflective, after the rise / fall. One of my favourites.

Prominent -

Minimalist –

Ambient -

 

[BT Jones]

190 – Azure – Chilled / tranquil

Prominent -

Minimalist –

Ambient -

195 – Yellow – Warm chill

Prominent -

Minimalist –

Ambient -

 

[BT Jones]

200 – Amber – Mellow

Prominent -

Minimalist –

Ambient -

210 – Ochre – Cheerful

Prominent -

Minimalist –

Ambient -

 

[BT Jones]

220 – White - Happy

Prominent -

Minimalist –

Ambient – Oops. I don’t own any ambient happy music!!! Possible the hardest subcategory to fill.

230 – Claret – Boisterous joy

Prominent -

Minimalist –

Ambient (sort of) -

 

[BT Jones]

235 – Vermillion – Determined positivity / uprising. One of my favourite. This one arose from too many falling in-between 050 & 240.

Prominent - (Best song of all time, BTW)

Minimalist –

Ambient -

240 – Orange – Soaring / positivity (a close cousin of 175, but less soulful, more optimistic)

Prominent -

Minimalist –

Ambient - (Best piece of electronic / drone music of all time, by the way)

 

[BT Jones]

245 – Quicksilver – Cool positivity

Prominent -

Minimalist –

Ambient -

250 – Silver – Cool

Prominent -

Minimalist –
One of the coolest tracks of all time, BTW!!

Ambient -

 

[BT Jones]

255 – Gold – Quirky cheesy cool

Prominent -

Minimalist –

Ambient -

260 – Iodide

(Not really a colour – the category I can’t give a name to. It’s chilled, cool, soulful, futuristic, all in one)

Prominent -

Minimalist –

Ambient -

 

[BT Jones]

And there it is, that's all my mood colours. This may have been for no benefit other than to stir some interesting conversation about how different people work, but if there is a particular ambient or minimalist mood colour someone might want more links or artists lists for, I would be only to happy to oblige. Even if just one of you gets onto a new artist that helps them write / draw better, it has been worth it. Maybe no one uses ambient music quite as much as me, but it's all out there now. Enjoy.

 

[DLCroix]

Yes, actually I'm listening to some now as I write this. And we also do not have to forget the previous list that you gave us. I stayed thinking about the Halo thing. I don't know if you will know the Marathon 2 game, from Bungie, which is like Halo's grandfather. I loved that opening! At least more than the opening of Marathon Infinity. That was already very much like 2 Unlimited. Well, it was from that time.

And I couldn't forget the OST of my favorite movie!

 

[BT Jones]

Thanks @DLCroix. I haven't actually heard this TG one before. It's good and it definitely fits into the more ambient tension / mood. Not sure I'm keen on Marathon, however. I was expecting "I'VE GOT THE POWER!" to come in any second.

 

[DLCroix]

You're right. TG throughout his career has made about twenty OSTs for movies of all kinds, several of them horror, and video games. And, well, the Marathon thing came to mind about Halo. Other artists who have been on my set list are Sarah Brightman and Johnny Cash. Anyway, there is a lot of wonderful music to be inspired by.

 

[Robert Zwilling]

Anything making sound, CD, radio, TV, DVD that has irregular intervals in it. If it is too repetitious sounding it doesn't work. Does have to be something I like for best results, soap operas would never work nor would techno, but otherwise a very wide range of titles. Not close enough to the refrigerator to hear it but it does have quite a range of interesting sounds. If the birds are singing loud enough that works good. I spend more time thinking about what I am writing or gluing together so whatever is running can be on auto repeat for hours. I do seem to like west coast rock better than east coast. The older the jazz, the better. Classical music with a unique sound or arrangement. If a western is on the TV, except for a few select ones, I don't hear it at all unless it is a spaghetti western. One particular movie works quite well, Johnny Depps Lone Ranger, dialog and music. Where as the pirate series is pretty much just background noise. For music, I like lots of rock from the 60s and 70s, lots of UK from the 80s, not much after that. Nirvana is great for artwork, the change ups keep it interesting.

 

[M. Robert Gibson]

For those who like to write in silence, here's the perfect soundtrack

 

[Joshua Jones]

For those who like to write in silence, here's the perfect soundtrack

Darn it! You beat me to it!

 

[BT Jones]

Anything making sound, CD, radio, TV, DVD that has irregular intervals in it. If it is too repetitious sounding it doesn't work. Does have to be something I like for best results, soap operas would never work nor would techno, but otherwise a very wide range of titles. Not close enough to the refrigerator to hear it but it does have quite a range of interesting sounds. If the birds are singing loud enough that works good. I spend more time thinking about what I am writing or gluing together so whatever is running can be on auto repeat for hours. I do seem to like west coast rock better than east coast. The older the jazz, the better. Classical music with a unique sound or arrangement. If a western is on the TV, except for a few select ones, I don't hear it at all unless it is a spaghetti western. One particular movie works quite well, Johnny Depps Lone Ranger, dialog and music. Where as the pirate series is pretty much just background noise. For music, I like lots of rock from the 60s and 70s, lots of UK from the 80s, not much after that. Nirvana is great for artwork, the change ups keep it interesting.

Wow, an eclectic range, @Robert Zwilling!

 

[F.J. Hansen]

I have a number of playlists on YouTube with music that I use for writing.

Two Epic Steps -- featuring music from Two Steps From Hell and similar groups
Zimmer and Jablonsky -- with soundtracks from Hans Zimmer and Steve Jablonsky
Amethystium -- with music from Amethystium, Mythos, and David Arkenstone
Battle Music -- with music I play as I write battle sequences
Dragon Music -- music to accompany my Dragon stories
Rehatching Climax -- music to accompany the epic climax of my last novel
Final Frontier Novel -- unofficial soundtrack that I'm compiling for my current project

Also on Youtube, I often listen to independents like Ivan Torrent, Mortifer, Peter Crowley, BrunuhVille, R. Armando Morabito.

I also have a large CD collection that I still sometimes listen to when I write. Mostly instrumental soundtracks (ex: Christopher Franke's Babylon 5, Hans Zimmer, James Horner, John Williams, Howard Shore) and New Age (ex: Christopher Franke, Secret Garden, Amethystium, Vangelis).