How to Calculate Beats per Minute in a Song
Whether you are in a marching band, dig hip hop, or are the hottest DJ at the club in your town, you need to know how many beats per minute or BPMs are in a song. Here's how to calculate BPMs.
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Instructions
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Feel the beat in the song you are playing. When a DJ mixes in or out of a song, they need to know the BPMs so that they can compare or contrast other beats. When a song begins, feel the rhythm of the percussion. In the same way your heart has a steady cadence, so will any song. Hearing this is almost innate to the human ear. If you are having trouble, clap your hands to the beat until you find it.
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Check your watch and wait until the second hand gets to the "12."
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Count the amount of beats for 10 seconds. Stay glued to your watch. The minute it hits 10 seconds, stop counting.
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Multiply that number by 6. This represents the 10 second interval times 6, because there are 60 seconds in a minute. The answer you receive is the BPM or beats per minute.
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Tips & Warnings
Many DJ boards have beat counters built in. This does the dirty work for the DJ so that he doesn't have to worry about finding the BPMs.
As a rule of thumb, most hip hop songs are under 115 BPMs while most house songs are over 115 BPMs. Trance songs tend to be exceedingly fast at over 125 BPMs.
