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.

Instructions

Difficulty: Easy

Things You’ll Need:

• Watch
• Music

1. 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.
2. Check your watch and wait until the second hand gets to the "12."
3. Count the amount of beats for 10 seconds. Stay glued to your watch. The minute it hits 10 seconds, stop counting.
4. 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.

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.