Calculate the Beats Per Minute (BPM) of a Song

One of the basic skills of being a DJ is to be able to seamlessly blend the end of one song into the beginning of the next, without the transition being awkward or jerky. To do a mashup like this successfully, you'll need to figure out the BPM (beats per minute) of each song. That way you know if you need to bring the tempo up or down to have them both playing at the same speed. You can either figure out BPM the old-fashioned way—with your ears and a stopwatch—or use some simple software to help you out.

Steps

Calculating BPM by Ear

  1. Determine the song’s Work-out-a-Time-Signature. In order to calculate the BPM of a song accurately, it’s important to know how many beats are in a bar (measure). While many songs have 4 beats per measure, this is not always the case. For example, waltzes have 3 beats to a measure. Listen for a repeating pattern of steady beats to try to figure out the number of beats in each measure.
    • As you are counting, pay attention to the strongest beats. This will help you get a sense of when to start over again at 1 (for example, in a 4/4 song, it will feel natural to count “1-2-3-4, 1-2-3-4” and so on).[1]{{greenbox:Tip: One of the easiest ways to figure out the time signature of a song is to look at a score. The time signature will appear at the beginning of the score immediately after the key signature, in the form of a fraction (e.g., 4/4, 3/4, or 6/8). The top number represents the number of beats in each measure.}}
  2. Start the song and a stopwatch at the same time. Once you have a sense of the time signature of the song, you can easily calculate the beats per minute by counting the number of bars, or measures, that go by in a minute. To begin, start playing the song and begin timing it with a stopwatch at the same moment that you hear the first beat.[2]
    • You can use a simple hand-held stopwatch, look at a clock with a second hand, or use the stopwatch feature on your phone for this purpose.
    • You might need to practice a few times to get the hang of starting the song and the stopwatch at the same time.
  3. Make a mark for every full measure that you hear in 30 seconds. As you’re listening to the song with the stopwatch running, make a mark on a piece of paper every time you hear the first beat of a new measure (the downbeat). Stop counting and stop the stopwatch when you hit the 30 second mark.[3]
    • You may end up stopping the stopwatch partway through a measure. For example, you might count 10 and ½ bars. If this happens, indicate on the paper that the final count was for only ½ a measure.
  4. Multiply the number of measures by the number of beats per measure. After you turn off the stopwatch, count up how many measures you heard. Multiply this number by the number of beats in each measure to find out how many beats there are in 30 seconds.[4]
    • For example, if you heard 12 measures go by and your song has 3 beats per measure, then the number of beats in 30 seconds is 36.
    • If you ended in the middle of a measure, add however many beats you heard in the last measure to the total number of beats from the full measures. For example, if the time signature is 4/4 and you heard 10 and ½ measures, you heard 40 beats plus 2 more, for a total of 42.
  5. Double the resulting number to get the BPM. Now that you’ve calculated the number of beats in 30 seconds, all you have to do is multiply the result by 2 to get the number of beats per minute. For example, if you counted a total of 36 beats, the BPM of the song is 72.[5]
    • You can also Count-Beats-in-a-Song if you prefer, but keep in mind that you will need to listen for the steady beat of the song. For example, if you count every beat and flourish you hear in the song’s drumline, you’ll end up with a lot of extra beats.
  6. Mix-Music-Using-Beatmatching with 2 songs at once. Even if 2 songs have the same time signature and overall BPM, the beats may not match up exactly. This is especially true when you’re working with live recordings and vinyl instead of digital tracks. Start by taking songs that you know well and that have the same (or similar) BPMs, and listen until you find a good cue to guide you as you sync the songs up.[6]
    • For example, maybe your B track has a loud bass drum beat on the first beat of each bar. Line up the first beat of the bar you choose with the first beat of another bar in the A track.
    • Concentrate on your cue and listen for places where the beats of the 2 songs no longer line up because of changes in tempo.
    • From there, you can decide on the perfect spot to make the transition from one song to the other.
    • Most DJ software has built-in features to make the beatmatching process easier. However, being able to beatmatch by ear will help you deal with tempo variations the software may not pick up on.

Using Software to Find the BPM

  1. Search for a beats-per-minute calculator and tap in your beats. There are a number of apps, websites, and software packages that feature BPM calculators. In many cases, you use the calculator by tapping a button along with the beat of the song. The calculator then totals up the BPM based on your taps.[7]
    • Do a search online or in your app store for “music BPM calculator” or “music BPM counter” to find a variety of user-friendly options.
    • A few good options include apps like BPM Tap and Tap Tempo, and online beat counters like the one at Beatsperminuteonline.com.
  2. Try an MP3 to BPM calculator to automatically analyze your song. Some BPM counters are designed to analyze the BPM of a track automatically, with no input from you. Do a search using terms like “BPM analyzer” or “MP3 to BPM” online or in your app store.{{greenbox:Keep in mind: While these analyzers are helpful and simple to use, they’re not always accurate. Some tracks are more difficult to analyze than others due to variations in the tempo, so you may need to double-check the results with an old-fashioned manual beat count.[8]}}
    • Try programs like the MixMeister BPM Analyzer or the BeatGauge BPM Detector for iTunes.
  3. Look for your song in a BPM database. If you’re getting frustrated with software solutions or your own attempts to count BPM, there’s always a chance that someone else has already done the work for you! There are several BPM databases available that provide data on many of the most popular tracks. Search for the title of your song to see if a matching track comes up. A few options include:
    • Tunebat.com
    • Songbpm.com
    • BPMdatabase.com

Tips

  • BPMs are not always consistent throughout an entire song, especially songs with a live drum track.
  • It can be helpful to familiarize yourself with the common BPMs in the genre you’re listening to. For example, most hip hop songs' BPMs are between 88 and 112.
  • Don't try to mix songs that are more than 5 BPMs apart, and always go from a lower BPM to a higher BPM. You can make an exception if you're starting a new set or you've reached the “peak” of your current set and need to bring the floor (or recording) back down.
  • Keep in mind blending is not the only way to mix 2 songs. You can also cut from one onto the next, and that way you don't necessarily have to match the BPMs.
  • A great help for starting DJs is to write down the BPMs of the songs on the record sleeves and then sort them by speed from the slowest to the fastest ones. That way, you know which ones are most likely to mix easily.
  • If you play a musical instrument, you probably already own a metronome. It's very common for metronomes to have a button that calculates BPM by the speed at which you repeatedly tap the button. Tap along with the song, and within the 1-2 BPM that comes with human error, you can have the BPM in seconds.[9]

Warnings

  • Do not confuse BPM with RPM. RPM (rotations per minute) is the speed at which the record plays. Current vinyl records play at 33 RPM and 45 RPM, while most records made before the late 1940s play at 78 RPM.

Related Articles

References

  1. ↑ https://youtu.be/I1pY3ijudj4?t=26
  2. ↑ https://youtu.be/YO-HZqzKYf8?t=56
  3. ↑ https://youtu.be/YO-HZqzKYf8?t=79
  4. ↑ https://youtu.be/YO-HZqzKYf8?t=143
  5. ↑ https://youtu.be/YO-HZqzKYf8?t=188
  6. ↑ https://www.digitaldjtips.com/2011/02/learn-to-beatmatch/
  7. ↑ https://youtu.be/YO-HZqzKYf8?t=212
  8. ↑ https://djworx.com/mini-review-beatgauge-bpm-detector-for-itunes/
  9. ↑ https://www.musicnotes.com/blog/2014/11/14/count-music/

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