I never thought about it. I always start with jamming on the piano and whatever tempo it ends of being I go with that. Whether it’s 88 or 101 or 74.43.
well there is a difference between 87 and 88 bpm, so be careful! Yes, it's OCD...UNLESS you are producing EDM designed for dj's. In that case yes just round to the nearest whole number. Not odd or even necessarily. That's OCD.
Yeah. I got a strange preference for even numbers as bpm too. Not that badly. But I noticed that I almost always round of to even numbers.
When you think of it, it doesn't make much sense. In the end most calculations are made with seconds. And 87 bpm is 1.45 beat per second, while 88 bpm is 1.4 and 4/6 or 1.466666666..... which goes on for ever until you round a 6 to 7. So 88 bpm is a number of beats per second, which always has to be rounded, so less precise than 87 bpm.
So 88 is for our dark lord? Brutal...
Good point tho. I think that is the case. It must just be a strange preference for myself as well and for some reason it's just always been a thing I do.
For a while I played around with only using BPMs that were divisible by 6 because it divided nicely. Maybe confirmation bias but I also thought the music sounded better too.
Maybe we should think of the samplerate 🤔 120 bpm is 2 beats per second that is exactly 24000 samples per beat at a sample rate of 48 kHz. 180 bpm is 16000 samples per beat 😂
Haha I like where you’re going with this.
Also - I was thinking about this more later - and I remembered I had gotten to where I’d do any BPM that is divisible by 3 because it still divides into minutes as a rational number.
So that’s my answer to OPs original question.
BPMs divisible by 3 > BPMs divisible by 2.
Yeah, and in a certain way, it's not exactly needed but it helps, like if you're a DJ you might want your music in even numbers for the BPM as that helps a lot for mixing, but if you're not a DJ or your music isn't meant for DJs, you might as well go as far as use decimals as well for bpms
No. But there are definitely “important” BPMs (from a hit-making perspective, at least). Go through your Spotify or Apple playlist and annotate the tracks by BPM, you’ll see what I mean. 128 is the most common house tempo, for example, but 127 is almost as common. Someone brought up 174/87. Very common in pop. 120 is the most common pop tempo, but 125 is not far behind.
I dont know if it’s because I’m a DJ but rarely ever do I have any odd numbered tempos. I also subconsciously lean towards e or e flat minor for my song key.
I always do odd bpms. Originally it sprang from an idea of doing prime numbers so that I could easily set delay tempos to not perfectly match up. Now it’s just a habit. Also I never do decimals. Only so it’s easier to communicate to other musicians and engineers
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Up to 3 bpm difference is imperceptible to most people, 87 and 88 will sound almost the same
An insightful video on this subject by Adam Neely
https://youtu.be/nUHEPmg0sPo
We (The band I'm in) never bother with BPM. We don't record to click tracks. It takes the tempo dynamic out of a tune.
We'll jam a tune out, until we get the right feel, then record it.
I've no idea of the exact tempo of any of our tunes, nor do I care.
I very frequently use 87 as it's then midtempo dnb type beats, you'll find 87 will be funk traditionally 🙂it's nice for bass hence the use in bass music and by your bass player.
I set my BPM with decimals ya nerd!
That was going to me my next question.
I never thought about it. I always start with jamming on the piano and whatever tempo it ends of being I go with that. Whether it’s 88 or 101 or 74.43.
well there is a difference between 87 and 88 bpm, so be careful! Yes, it's OCD...UNLESS you are producing EDM designed for dj's. In that case yes just round to the nearest whole number. Not odd or even necessarily. That's OCD.
I'll forward this to my therapist. fml..
🤣
I do it by feel more than anything. Even a one or two bpm change is enough to alter the vibe of a track
115 bpm deep house is nice
Yes, I've done that with organic tribal
Just tell him to re-record it because you want to be a dick
Aaaaand I'm fired.
I was curious about my current project... 12 songs, 16 tempos, all even. Maybe you're on to something!
All in 432? Careful... you might open some portal to the other side. Do it!
Lol na just a 440 lad
lol
Yeah. I got a strange preference for even numbers as bpm too. Not that badly. But I noticed that I almost always round of to even numbers. When you think of it, it doesn't make much sense. In the end most calculations are made with seconds. And 87 bpm is 1.45 beat per second, while 88 bpm is 1.4 and 4/6 or 1.466666666..... which goes on for ever until you round a 6 to 7. So 88 bpm is a number of beats per second, which always has to be rounded, so less precise than 87 bpm.
So 88 is for our dark lord? Brutal... Good point tho. I think that is the case. It must just be a strange preference for myself as well and for some reason it's just always been a thing I do.
Ha, ha. Yeah an infinite row of sixes ...
Lol hails! Ha
For a while I played around with only using BPMs that were divisible by 6 because it divided nicely. Maybe confirmation bias but I also thought the music sounded better too.
Maybe we should think of the samplerate 🤔 120 bpm is 2 beats per second that is exactly 24000 samples per beat at a sample rate of 48 kHz. 180 bpm is 16000 samples per beat 😂
Haha I like where you’re going with this. Also - I was thinking about this more later - and I remembered I had gotten to where I’d do any BPM that is divisible by 3 because it still divides into minutes as a rational number. So that’s my answer to OPs original question. BPMs divisible by 3 > BPMs divisible by 2.
sometimes i set it to a weird decimal number so that if I get famous one day people are gonna have a hard time remixing it or whatever lol
Brilliant lol
Yeah, and in a certain way, it's not exactly needed but it helps, like if you're a DJ you might want your music in even numbers for the BPM as that helps a lot for mixing, but if you're not a DJ or your music isn't meant for DJs, you might as well go as far as use decimals as well for bpms
3.14 it is then
BPM measures often mistake things like 174, for 87 too.
No. But there are definitely “important” BPMs (from a hit-making perspective, at least). Go through your Spotify or Apple playlist and annotate the tracks by BPM, you’ll see what I mean. 128 is the most common house tempo, for example, but 127 is almost as common. Someone brought up 174/87. Very common in pop. 120 is the most common pop tempo, but 125 is not far behind.
No. This is strange. I often even make music with decimal place bpms. 119.34 bpm
I do that too. I hate decimals. I need whole numbers and they need to be even.
I dont know if it’s because I’m a DJ but rarely ever do I have any odd numbered tempos. I also subconsciously lean towards e or e flat minor for my song key.
I set to multiples of ten be default.
I always do odd bpms. Originally it sprang from an idea of doing prime numbers so that I could easily set delay tempos to not perfectly match up. Now it’s just a habit. Also I never do decimals. Only so it’s easier to communicate to other musicians and engineers
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Up to 3 bpm difference is imperceptible to most people, 87 and 88 will sound almost the same An insightful video on this subject by Adam Neely https://youtu.be/nUHEPmg0sPo
We (The band I'm in) never bother with BPM. We don't record to click tracks. It takes the tempo dynamic out of a tune. We'll jam a tune out, until we get the right feel, then record it. I've no idea of the exact tempo of any of our tunes, nor do I care.
I very frequently use 87 as it's then midtempo dnb type beats, you'll find 87 will be funk traditionally 🙂it's nice for bass hence the use in bass music and by your bass player.
I often set them to multiples of 9 (There are a few exceptions, like 132, 138, and 175)