Beastie Boys · Paul’s Boutique
High Plains Drifter
High Plains Drifter is in F minor at 152.5 beats per minute.
Tempo
153 BPM · Allegromedian of 143 analyses · 152.3–152.5 across the middle eight tenths- Key
- F minor4 flats · the key most of the analyses agreed on
- Agreement
- 76%share of analyses that agreed
- Analyses
- 143people who ran the extractor
- One beat
- 393.4milliseconds, 60,000 ÷ BPM
- Tuning
- 434.2Hz · -23 cents from A 440
- Dynamics
- 5.06dB the level wanders from its average
- Loudness
- 0.93Essentia's 0–1 scale, not dB
- Danceability
- 1.472Essentia's danceability, 0–3
Source: AcousticBrainz, dump of 2022-06-23 (CC0) · MusicBrainz core data, 2026-09-17 (CC0) · how each number is measured. Measured up to 23.06.2022 — AcousticBrainz stopped collecting in 2022, so nothing released after that date is here.
What the numbers say
143 independent analyses of this recording were submitted to AcousticBrainz. Most of them — 76% — put it in F minor, a key signature of 4 flats. The tempo printed above is the median of the 143 readings; 100% of them land within 2% of it, and they barely differ at all.
At 152.5 BPM one beat lasts 393.4 milliseconds, so a sixteenth note is 98.4 ms and a dotted eighth 295.1 ms — the delay times for this recording. Counted half as fast it is 76.3 BPM, counted twice as fast 305. A score would mark that Allegro, by the ranges this site uses.
The analyses put the reference pitch of the recording at 434.2 Hz, which is 23 cents below concert A at 440 Hz — the sort of drift a tape machine or a slightly different mastering leaves behind. That is a fact about this transfer of the music, not about how it was played.
The dynamic complexity of the recording measures 5.06 dB: that is how far the level wanders from its own average, so a small number means a loud, flat master and a large one means a recording that still breathes. Its average loudness is 0.93 on Essentia's 0-to-1 scale, which is not decibels and is not comparable to a streaming service's number.
10 other recordings here are in F minor; the ones listed below are the closest in tempo.
Beats per bar are not in this dataset. AcousticBrainz's analysis reports a tempo, a key and a loudness, and no time signature at all, so this page does not print one — a 4/4 here would be a guess dressed as a measurement.
Keys that fit with F minor
Each of these differs from F minor by at most one accidental, or shares its tonic. That is the whole of what a mixing wheel encodes; here the relations are named instead of numbered.
Delay times at 153 BPM
| Note value | Beats | Milliseconds | Hertz |
|---|---|---|---|
| Whole note | 4 | 1573.8 | 0.64 |
| Half note | 2 | 786.9 | 1.27 |
| Dotted quarter | 1.5 | 590.2 | 1.69 |
| Quarter note (one beat) | 1 | 393.4 | 2.54 |
| Quarter triplet | 0.667 | 262.3 | 3.81 |
| Dotted eighth | 0.75 | 295.1 | 3.39 |
| Eighth note | 0.5 | 196.7 | 5.08 |
| Eighth triplet | 0.333 | 131.1 | 7.63 |
| Dotted sixteenth | 0.375 | 147.5 | 6.78 |
| Sixteenth note | 0.25 | 98.4 | 10.17 |
| Sixteenth triplet | 0.167 | 65.6 | 15.25 |
| Thirty-second note | 0.125 | 49.2 | 20.33 |
Half time 76.3 BPM · double time 305 BPM. Every row is one beat (393.4 ms) times the fraction in the second column.
Closest in key and tempo
- Don’t SpeakNo DoubtF minor152BPM
- Ain’t No SunshineMichael JacksonF minor152BPM
- Ain’t No TellingThe Jimi Hendrix ExperienceF minor152BPM
- You Could Be MineGuns N’ RosesF minor151BPM
- TelephoneErykah BaduF minor154BPM
- OriginalArcángel x Bad BunnyF minor151BPM
- Onward and UpwardTim DaviesF minor151BPM
- Bang BangJessie J, Ariana Grande & Nicki MinajF minor150BPM
- You've Got The Indian Sign On MeNat King ColeF minor155BPM
- Dream OnAerosmithF minor155BPM
Recordings in F minor, ordered by how near their tempo is to 153 BPM. A calculation, not a recommendation.
All songs in F minorAll songs at 153 BPMF minor at 150–159 BPMBeastie Boys
MusicBrainz collapses 7 recording ids into this one. Recording id e4116661-9f6d-4aa8-a2f9-f46dfefd58c1.