Where can I find bpm databases?

March 14, 2007 9:29 PM

On the prowl for online databases that list BPMs of popular music.

When remixing and sampling popular music, it's handy to know the BPM of the song you're working with. This askmefi question solves that problem by providing software that can analyze songs and determine the BPM automatically. However, I am not getting the accuracy I need to synchronize and layer material. Tap Tempo sometimes works as you tap the tempo manually, however, for some songs this can be a struggle for accuracy (especially when the tempo has decimals in it).

With all that out of the way, I am looking for databases, archives, text files, forum threads, or anything that lists a large selection of songs with their respective BPMs.

This particular thread offers a ton of hip-hop BPM's which is perfect for when you have the vocal track of a popular rap song and you want to create a mash-up or whatever your remixing heart desires.

Other than that, the only real resource I've found is the BPM Database which doesn't have a whole lot yet, although it's been helpful in one or two occasions.

Obviously it's difficult to find a comprehensive list of the BPM of every song in the history of popular music but the more resources bookmarked the better. Thanks for your help.

posted by ageispolis to media & arts (5 comments total)

Might not be accurate/professional enough for your purposes, but I have found Tangerine! to be pretty good (and very fast) at picking out BPM and filling it into the id3 tags of my mp3s automatically, no tapping required.
posted by shanevsevil at 10:15 PM on March 14, 2007

For PC, theres the MixMeister BPM Analyzer which does the same thing as Tangerine, and it's free.
posted by softlord at 6:56 AM on March 15, 2007

I've used the BPM Database that you mention most often, but you might be able to find some stuff sifting through the Your Fitness Music Database. It seems to have more songs than the BPM Database, but the search interface is much less precise.
posted by vytae at 7:42 AM on March 15, 2007

I think you are on the right track but if you are looking to blend non-electronic music beware of tempo drifting. Basically any song that isn't recorded with a drum machine or using a click track will likely drift in BPM throughout.
posted by phixed at 10:00 AM on March 15, 2007

This software http://www.mixshare.com/software.html

is the best bpm (and finds key) software I've tried, and best of all it's free. It will add the bpm to your file names if you want as well.
posted by debu at 3:41 PM on March 16, 2007 [1 favorite has favorites]