What do you listen to while you work? It depends on what I am doing at the moment. If I am in the studio, I usually start with R&B or bossa nova. Bossa nova seems like the perfect sound to ease into the day. And for practical purposes, it is just there and enjoyable without having to hit you over the head with its presence. But usually I end up back at the R&B vault. Lately, toward the end of the day, I have found myself tuning into jazz-inspired electronica artists like Shigeto and Shlohmo.

If I am in the workshop using sanders and saws, I put on reggae or jazz vocalists from the 50s and 60s. Especially Lambert, Hendricks and Ross. Even when what I am doing is super noisy, I can still hear the music.

How do you listen? I should be a sales rep for the Bose Companion system. We have four of these. They are great for hooking up to your iPod or iPhone and also streaming Pandora or Last.fm. We use these while shooting or making surfaces.

At my desk I use Sony headphones (that I had bought to use for recording sound for video, but ended up mostly using to listen to music) and my iMac or just the iMac.

Do you have any favorite music websites/providers? We jump back and forth from Pandora and Last.fm. Maybe a bit more lately with Pandora.

Where do you find music recommendations? Mostly online. I’ll spend time going through the iTunes store and one thing leads to another. I also tune into NPR and Soundcheck. And of course there’s nothing like having an assistant or client plug in their iPhone or iPod to get a whole new outlook on music.

What song or artist best represents the work you create? I would say it is a toss up between Sergio Mendes and Stevie Wonder. The song “So Nice” from Sergio Mendes and Brasil ’65 is fantastic as it straddles jazz and pop and has an amazing vocalist in Lani Hall — not from Rio, but from Chicago! And “Don’t You Worry ‘Bout a Thing” from Innervisions by Stevie Wonder is an all-time favorite and Latin-soul inflected. Upbeat and beautiful.

Ideal place to sit and listen to your playlist: The Eames Aluminum Group Management Chair in black. I’m all about fun and function, plus beauty ranks pretty high on my list of things to have.

JIM’S PLAYLIST

1. Mais Que Nada, Sergio Mendes & Brasil ’66
2. He’s Misstra Know-It-All, Stevie Wonder
3. Got to Give It Up, Marvin Gaye
4. Love T.K.O., Teddy Pendergrass
5. Soaring, Shigeto
6. The Look of Love, Sergio Mendes & Brasil ’66
7. Let’s Stay Together, Al Green
8. Didn’t Cha Know, Erykah Badu
9. Sumthin’ Sumthin’, Maxwell
10. Places, Shlomo

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Photos: Jim Franco