TempoPeek

Beastie Boys · Check Your Head

Pass the Mic

Pass the Mic is in C minor at 166.2 beats per minute.

4080120160200

Tempo

166 BPM · Vivacemedian of 204 analyses · 166.1–166.3 across the middle eight tenths
Key
C minor3 flats · the key most of the analyses agreed on
Agreement
84%share of analyses that agreed
Analyses
204people who ran the extractor
One beat
361milliseconds, 60,000 ÷ BPM
Tuning
451.8Hz · +46 cents from A 440
Dynamics
3.06dB the level wanders from its average
Loudness
0.923Essentia's 0–1 scale, not dB
Danceability
1.157Essentia'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

204 independent analyses of this recording were submitted to AcousticBrainz. Most of them — 84% — put it in C minor, a key signature of 3 flats. The tempo printed above is the median of the 204 readings; 100% of them land within 2% of it, and they barely differ at all.

At 166.2 BPM one beat lasts 361 milliseconds, so a sixteenth note is 90.3 ms and a dotted eighth 270.8 ms — the delay times for this recording. Counted half as fast it is 83.1 BPM, counted twice as fast 332.4. A score would mark that Vivace, by the ranges this site uses.

The analyses put the reference pitch of the recording at 451.8 Hz, which is 46 cents above concert A at 440 Hz — far enough that playing along at 440 Hz will sound wrong. That is a fact about this transfer of the music, not about how it was played.

The dynamic complexity of the recording measures 3.06 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 0.923 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 C 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 C minor

Each of these differs from C 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 166 BPM

Note valueBeatsMillisecondsHertz
Whole note414440.69
Half note27221.39
Dotted quarter1.5541.51.85
Quarter note (one beat)13612.77
Quarter triplet0.667240.74.16
Dotted eighth0.75270.83.69
Eighth note0.5180.55.54
Eighth triplet0.333120.38.31
Dotted sixteenth0.375135.47.39
Sixteenth note0.2590.311.08
Sixteenth triplet0.16760.216.62
Thirty-second note0.12545.122.16

Half time 83.1 BPM · double time 332.4 BPM. Every row is one beat (361 ms) times the fraction in the second column.

Closest in key and tempo

  1. It's Gonna Be Me*NSYNCC minor165BPM
  2. Rivers & BridgesScannerC minor165BPM
  3. You Make Me Wanna…UsherC minor164BPM
  4. (Love Is Like a) Heat WaveMartha Reeves and the VandellasC minor163BPM
  5. He Won’t GoAdeleC minor162BPM
  6. Greased Lightnin'John TravoltaC minor162BPM
  7. The SupermenDavid BowieC minor172BPM
  8. Alpha Beta GagaAirC minor172BPM
  9. No One KnowsQueens of the Stone AgeC minor172BPM
  10. DownMarian HillC minor172BPM

Recordings in C minor, ordered by how near their tempo is to 166 BPM. A calculation, not a recommendation.

All songs in C minorAll songs at 166 BPMC minor at 160–169 BPMBeastie Boys

MusicBrainz collapses 30 recording ids into this one. Recording id 47c4be33-9284-462d-9670-39cd00812c48.