Dance music bpm's.

[butterfly]

Hi fellas done a search on this but there doesn't really seem to be anything at all.
This is kind of new for me, dance music that is, I'm in the process of writing a few poppy dance/electroish/house tracks, hmm that sounds a little peculiar but I'm not very up on genres. As far as I'm aware most dance stuff is in the 120 and above range with maybe the odd 119, recent lady gaga being an example. The stuff is male vocal led and song based rather than chopped up samples. As I consider myself a songwriter first the songs are normally conjured up in my head and then sequenced around that, which is presenting a little problem as I am finding in some cases that the optimum bpm is maybe as low 110 -114 BPM. I don't know how important this is but I'm guessing it is if one wants dj's to play stuff. So what do you think stick with lower tempos or attempt to shoe horn stuff into higher tempos?

[Nicholas Varley]

time was when we'd say "127, disco heaven" …

[timbreman]

130 and above for club stuff. 120 is more like pop.
I read somewhere that the magic bpm to get the crowd goin is 133.
Not sure if that's true or not though.

[subsonix]

most 'house'/commercial/pop dance seems to be 128bpm these days.

I guess that's because the sample loop providers stuck to that! lol

Tracks have got a lot slower over the past couple of years.

[kasprouch]

Originally Posted by subsonix

most 'house'/commercial/pop dance seems to be 128bpm these days.

I guess that's because the sample loop providers stuck to that! lol

Tracks have got a lot slower over the past couple of years.

Exactly... you can blame vengeance for that!


Most techy stuff is coming out at 126.00

[digital 1010]

A lot of house is also 120-125 think sasha involv2er etc.

[subsonix]

Originally Posted by digital 1010

A lot of house is also 120-125 think sasha involv2er etc.

...and if I'm thinking that, I'm also thinking 'why isn't more music this good' lol

[digital 1010]

Originally Posted by subsonix

...and if I'm thinking that, I'm also thinking 'why isn't more music this good' lol

To me thats the creme de la creme of house producing and remixing. It's so well thought out and so well produced/mixed/mastered etc etc.

It also shows how much more you can fit in a mix at slower speeds

[Tom H]

I personally don't really care, I like playing tracks with different tempo's as a DJ, keeps it way more interesting. And there's a pitch control for a reason.

There are some really killer dance floor tracks at lower BPM, think a hit like Da Funk for instance. Very original when it came out. You can mix it with hiphop, old skool electro and, if you pitch it, with house.

[rushton]

i keep it between 125 and 129 when i play your average 'house music clubber' gets too worn out if its faster

[andrewsc]

138 is a good guess for harder techno

[Beermaster]

Trance stuff of old use to come in around 130BPM -

DnB 160 ( with the often used half time groove to start )

RnB and Hip Hop beats tend to be a lot slower

[crufty]

Great post, was just wondering this myself.

Does anyone else find 120bpm kinda sleepy?

I find it takes 127 to wake me up.


What is the bpm for 'traditional1' goa/psytrance? I always assumed 137-140 range. True?

[andrewsc]

Some of what I think of as ragga drum and bass or jungle is like 176 bpm. Techstep a little slower.

ye olde goa on into psy 140 +

[filin]

london style acid techno 145ish,

190-220bpm is nice for thrashy hardcore.

[digital 1010]

Originally Posted by filin

london style acid techno 145ish,

190-220bpm is nice for thrashy hardcore.

220bpm!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Beermaster]

220 ! ha ha ha !

110 Me thinks. with a double time feel.

[Electronica03]

Anywhere from 120-130, it all depends on the genre. 120 most likely will be a deep house track (think an opening track). 130 would be peak hour techno.

[msl]

110 would be a bit slow for the dance floor yes. Since its vocal led maybe you can have the tracks around 114-119 and then have a remix or two at 125+

Personal preferences
121, it's a magic tempo! I don't find it slow at all, lots of classic house tracks around that tempo.
125-130 tech, electrohouse
130-140 techno
160+ dnb

All kinda depends on the track and the bassline, if its 1/8s or 1/16's. Most of my dance tracks are between 121-135 but I have a few that are 150, 160. If I'm the one dancing I prefer below 135, can't do dnb anymore I could in my 20's, I'm getting too old

Hey and don't forget Moby's 'Thousand'

[roginator]

115-125 disco funk!!!

[crufty]

fwiw floyd's on the run is 166, a very interesting tempo.

[Popbott]

I wirte most of my poppy tunes right around 127-8. When I work on a song, I usually think in terms of possibly doing a dance club remix later, so the convenience of writing at 127-8 bpm is that it isn't too far away from being able to transform it into a club track. Time stretching vocals wouldn't sound too far off if I decide to pump one of my tunes to 130-33 bpm. I find that writing more up-tempo tracks for my style of music make for a better live show as I like to keep the dance floor moving. I have been to down tempo shows and tend to get bored if the music is not strong enough.

How important is it? For DJ's, depending on what kind of night is being promoted, tempo is very important, especially if your job is to keep a crowd in the club and buying drinks. I really think you should stick to whatever you feel is best for your song. A good tune written in any temo is a good tune no matter what, stick to your guns.

[VoiceManMike]

Having been a club DJ for almost 20 years I've seen and played it all. The music that last the test of time tends to ride from 120 to 130. 120 being the magic number which is the beat for military and parade march (which is about 3 miles per hour) healthy folk can dance for hours at that rate anything above 140 really becomes ridiculous and what I call "disposable music" because its life span is 4 to 6 weeks - if that. Of course this all depends on the club and the demographic of the patrons.

[grantlandau]

i try to ease into things with 200+ bpm gabber and bebop mashup.

[tekara]

Originally Posted by Electronica03

Anywhere from 120-130, it all depends on the genre. 120 most likely will be a deep house track (think an opening track). 130 would be peak hour techno.

Couldn't have said it any better. If you keep your ears open, many techno DJ's will start a 4 hour set with some house or tech-house ranging anywhere between 118-122, but a few hours into it, it peaks with thundering techno at 130 or so.

Good call!

[tekara]

Some very good responses here.

I'd also like to mention that with the new digital age of DJing, it almost doesn't really matter any longer what BPM you the producer are sequencing the tracks in, as the DJ will just throw your track in a loop in sync with the computer sequencer.

Dance music producers back in the day had no choice but to write tracks to a certain BPM simply because they were restricted to the 33/45 RPM of a turntable. If I was a techno producer back then, I knew with certainty that I would have to make my tracks conform within a certain range of BPM if I wanted fellow techno DJ's to play my music in their set. If it wasn't in the range, then nobody could mix it together in a set.

Nowadays, I hear all genres of dance music ranging from 110 to 150 being thrown into a mix simultaneously (thanks to Ableton). This is why I don't think calculating BPM tempo is as important as it used to be.

But house, I would say 115-120 BPM is pretty good. For techno, 120-135 is okay as well. Techno especially has defintately slowed down over the past 4-5 years. I think at the peak of European techno (Dave Clarke, Adam Beyer, Danilo Vigorito, Cari Lekebusch), they were playing hard and dark techno at 135 BPM at least. Guys like DJ Rush would play their stuff so fast and aggressively that I've always thought DJ Rush maxed out his pitch control limit on the turntable (sliding the fader down to the furthest). But with the explosion of minimal techno, I have seen much of the material being released now being slowed down significantly.

Having said that, I don't think there's an "optimal BPM" to go by. Just use your ears and gauge for yourself.

[digital 1010]

Faster bpm reminds of how thrash metal got faster and faster and faster and in the end it was so fast it juts lost all its power. That happened with gabba as well. At one point it was proper stompy and it got faster and faster and faster then lost all it power.

[butterfly]

Wow, just got back from work, so many great and useful responses. Thanks everyone, really appreciated.

130 and above for club stuff. 120 is more like pop

.......haven't come up with anything approaching 130 bpm but suppose I could if I was to sequence first and then write to it. I guess some of the stuff I'm working on is "pop" so that's probably ok.

most 'house'/commercial/pop dance seems to be 128bpm these days.

.....Yip, actually was thinking of getting the vengeance sample cd as my samples are mainly hip/hop rnb. surely possible to use some of the loops at slower tempos no?

How important is it? For DJ's, depending on what kind of night is being promoted, tempo is very important, especially if your job is to keep a crowd in the club and buying drinks. I really think you should stick to whatever you feel is best for your song. A good tune written in any temo is a good tune no matter what, stick to your

...........Yes I hear you, but it's a kind of double edged sword then.......good tune.....but too slow?

Nowadays, I hear all genres of dance music ranging from 110 to 150 being thrown into a mix simultaneously (thanks to Ableton). This is why I don't think calculating BPM tempo is as important as it used to be.

But house, I would say 115-120 BPM is pretty good.

.....ok that's reassuring, that's where the tracks I have written thus far are sitting.

Thanks once again fellas, it's good to get some definitive answers and there seems to be some correlation between them. I'm figuring if a track works best under 120, from the perpective of tracking the vocal then perhaps the dj could spin it a little quicker if he liked it, had this bfore when I was doing rnb stuff, although one dj used to say to me give me something about 114-115.....never managed it!

[krisstoff]

From 124 - 128 gennerally. I did do a track at 119 and weirdly it's more peaktime than one i did a 128. I find that anything over 130 sounds unfunky to my ears and it also sounds less bass heavy the faster it go's, so i can't be having any of that.

[subsonix]

Originally Posted by tekara

I'd also like to mention that with the new digital age of DJing, it almost doesn't really matter any longer what BPM you the producer are sequencing the tracks in, as the DJ will just throw your track in a loop in sync with the computer sequencer.
.

unfortunately you still have to be careful of bpms if you want to sell your tracks via Beatport etc. They really are genre ****s and you can be pushed out of the house section into another sub genre purely on that basis... be warned. sad but true.

I wouldn't go any higher than 130 for house.

I've slowed my techno productions recently. I was making stuff at 135-138 but even at the tempo jocks like Carl Cox were playing them at -4 to -6 pitch! Fair play to him for playing them but they really didn't sound right to me! lol