Darkroom music

cliveh · Jul 9, 2012

Is there a particular type of music you like to play in the darkroom? I am quite fond of "The best of Erik Satie", as I have never heard music that is more relaxing.

gandolfi · Jul 9, 2012

cliveh said:
Is there a particular type of music you like to play in the darkroom? I am quite fond of "The best of Erik Satie", as I have never heard music that is more relaxing.

been thinking about this today actually.

I LOVE opera - I am a huge romantic, BUT I have found, when working in the darkroom or making bromoil, I really enjoy listening to the piano concertos by Beethoven. Especiallt nr 4 and 5..

It's like it is pure - no "alternative motives" - no bull... Just the right amount of notes at all times...

(However, I find L. Cohen good for bromoil printing too!)

GuyS. · Jul 9, 2012

I always have the Radio on, generally BBC Radio 6 Music, so you never really know what you are going to get. A Floyd track could easily be followed by some 70's disco or French accordion music.

GuyS. · Jul 9, 2012

gandolfi said:
(However, I find L. Cohen good for bromoil printing too!)

Ooooh L. Cohen; I love his stuff. Not sure I could listen to it too much in the dark room though, I'd end up selenium toning everything !

Thomas Bertilsson · Jul 9, 2012

My metronome keeps very good rhythm...
When my darkroom CD player worked I would often play lots of Delta Blues, early recordings from the 1920s and 1930s. It was just the right mood for me. I'll have to fix that CD player.

BainDarret · Jul 9, 2012

I use to print my weddings listening to Bob Kerr's "Off The Record" on CBC Radio 2 back in the 80s and early 90s. He was very perceptive when it came to European Art music of the last few centuries. I learned a lot and became acquainted with many new composers by way of his programme. The time went so fast during those sessions.

http://www.bcradiohistory.com/Biographies/BobKerr.htm

Darkroom317 · Jul 9, 2012

Generally some sort of Asian or Native American flute music. I also play a lot Asian string music as well as more meditative music. I particularly enjoy the Native American flute music when I am working on stuff from New Mexico. So far I have found these to be the most relaxing. However, I did listen to a lot of blues, jazz and swing music in the painting studio this Spring. Maybe it will work as well in the darkroom.

RPippin · Jul 9, 2012

Blind Boys of Alabama. Any deep delta, deep south gospel. Don't knock it till you try it...

Alan W · Jul 9, 2012

Captain Beefheart and the Magic Band.Mainly two albums-Doc at the Radar Station or Bat Chain Puller.Makes time fly.

ColdEye · Jul 9, 2012

I play pretty much any song by Rammstein when I am in printing or developing film (headphones + mp3 player).

psychfunk · Jul 9, 2012

I have such a variety of music in my media player that I just take to the darkroom when I'm going.
If it's a leisurely print I'm making, classical (Beethoven, Handel etc) or prog rock (mainly Genesis and Pink Floyd) will do.
If it's a "get the job done" feel I'm after, anything with a beat turned up loud, like Tiesto will be just fine too.

jordanstarr · Jul 9, 2012

I just throw my ipod on random and go to town...everything from jazz, punk, rock, hip-hop, folk....sometimes I print in silence when I need 100% concentration. I know a Print Master that loves music, but can't listen to it in the darkroom because even as a background, it's "too distracting".

Stan160 · Jul 9, 2012

An unexpected side effect of building a heavily-insulated darkroom in an outbuilding is that I can turn the music up LOUD and it's still barely audible outside so it doesn't annoy the neighbours or my wife

Normally the radio is tuned to either Planet Rock or BBC Radio 3. Looking forward to Proms season starting in a few days time. If it's CDs then I tend to favour nice long symphonies, Mahler a particular favourite, or prog rock concept albums. Something to accompany a nice long lith printing session.

Ian

Klainmeister · Jul 9, 2012

I find Calexico quite soothing in the darkroom. I just have it jamming out of my cell phone in my pocket so that it doesn't overwhelm the whole space. I would really like to get a good stereo in there, but other things must be worked on first...

polyglot · Jul 9, 2012

I find Salmonella Dub works well except I have bad computer speakers in the darkroom; they have a horrible boomy (90Hz-resonant, high Q) woofer, and that's really bad for reggae. So usually it's Faith No More or Tool.

Chris Lange · Jul 9, 2012

Usually it's a dj set of deep house or minimal techno. Lately been working pretty frequently with Maceo Plex's recent Radio 1 Essential Mix.

HowardDvorin · Jul 9, 2012

Blue Grass. Del Mccoury, Blue Highway,Peter Rowan and others

Gerald C Koch · Jul 9, 2012

I wonder if it is good to have any distractions in the darkroom. We constantly see posts where people have reversed the order of developer and fixer or omitted a processing step. People think that they are good at multitasking when in reality they are not. I even read that one photographer had a TV in the darkroom with a red gel so he could watch it when making prints.

Jeff Kubach · Jul 9, 2012

I like the older rock & roll like the Rolling Stones, Savoy Brown, etc.

Jeff

spatz · Jul 9, 2012

i dont usually listen to music when im in the darkroom because i find silence the best for such contemplative processes. but if i do, i listen to music which best reflects the mood i want my work to reflect. for example if im making prints of a holiday i play the same music that i listened to during that holiday - to bring out those memories more vividly or inspire the same emotions.

Roger Cole · Jul 9, 2012

Gerald C Koch said:
I wonder if it is good to have any distractions in the darkroom. We constantly see posts where people have reversed the order of developer and fixer or omitted a processing step. People think that they are good at multitasking when in reality they are not. I even read that one photographer had a TV in the darkroom with a red gel so he could watch it when making prints.

I believe that was W. Eugene Smith. Must have really messed him up.

I couldn't stand to watch TV in the darkroom; in fact I can't stand it on in the background anywhere. Decades of living without cable or satellite, quite intentionally, has turned it into a severe irritant for me. I only have a TV to watch recorded or streamed movies, and certainly not in the darkroom.

But to each their own. I listen to jazz or blues most often. Sometimes it's on a CD but most often I put my iPhone on streaming WWOZ from New Orleans. I leave it just outside the darkroom plugged into an FM modulator, and pick up the signal on my darkroom boombox which has the display lights taped over. Works for me.

Newt_on_Swings · Jul 9, 2012

I've got a nice iPod dock under my plastic delta sink on a simple wooden board, the display lights are set to off, and I use a stack of exposed paper to block my iPhone screen when docked. I use the remote to change tracks. I listen to a pretty varied mix of rock, classic rock, alternative, folk, and indie. Audio books sometimes but often times I have to go rewind as I get caught up with the motions of the print. Music helps a lot, much better than silence and the enlarger clicking on, or the drone of a fan. Keeps you going too especially when printing until sunrise.

winger · Jul 9, 2012

I'll listen to nearly anything. If I'm trying to get something accomplished, I need something with a good beat to get me going. Some of the groups that get more play time than others: Dropkick Murphys, Evanescence, Basia, Enya, Clannad, Metallica, The Glengarry Bhoys, and of course, Jimmy Buffett. My CD player broke, so I plug an iPod into the aux inputs.

agnosticnikon · Jul 9, 2012

So much music to chose from..... I took a photography course in the mid 70s from an old guy who put safe light filter film over his b&w TV so he could watch Charlie's Angles while developing film. Me, not so much for TV in the darkroom, but I do like just about anything classical, jazz and Laurie Anderson whom I never get tired of. Sometimes, just the sound of film or paper washing is nice and relaxing too.

Thomas Bertilsson · Jul 10, 2012

Here are a few others that just now came to mind:
Tom Waits, JJ Grey and Mofro, Elvis Costello, R.E.M. early albums, Calexico, Yo La Tengo, Hindi Zahra, The American Analog Set, Alexi Murdoch, Beck, Mazzy Star, Modest Mouse, Neko Case, Peter Gabriel, Radiohead, and Richard Thompson.

Darkroom music

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