do you design to the music of time?

I've worked in all sorts of places and in all sorts of situations over the years - and whilst there are always exceptions to the rule, most design studios always have music playing. Not in the reception or the boardroom (if they're big boys), but go into the studio where the work gets done, and invariably there will be music playing. And not just in the background, either. It just seems to go with the job, in much the same way as six spoons of sugar in a cup of tea goes with being a builder.

I must admit, though, these days I prefer to work in silence. Sometimes in the evening, if I'm working on something when all my attention has to be focussed upon just one thing, I'll find that music can act as a stimulus. And I might then choose something by Ernest Ranglin.

I like Ernest. I first saw him at Glastonbury: a Sunday lunchtime and people kept coming up to me in the Jazz field and asking if Ernie had been on yet. Who's Ernie?, I thought. But then if you only occasionally watch television, you'll realise that you've heard him on a thousand soundtracks.

And then music can so easily take you back to a particular place and time. Duck Rock always takes me back to happy times in Covent Garden, just as a burst of anything by Bobby McFerrin will remind me not to worry, but to be happy. By the same token, I just can't bear to hear Californication or anything by Eminem - they always remind me of unhappy or difficult times (or, to be more precise, difficult people).

And if I ever here a snatch of anything from 'Punch the Clock', like this...

...I'm immediately transported back to the studio of CDT, when they were Carroll, Dempsey and Thirkell and based in Regent Street. And I only went there the once (and, no, I wasn't looking for a job or going for an interview).

What music do you design by?

Comments

[DF Hobbs]

It depends on the project... I often ask the client what they listen to, then listen to that.