Captain Beefheart & His Magic Band · Trout Mask Replica

Sweet Sweet Bulbs

Sweet Sweet Bulbs is in E minor at 147.1 beats per minute.

4080120160200

Tempo

147 BPM · Allegromedian of 148 analyses · 147.1–147.2 across the middle eight tenths
Key
E minor1 sharp · the key most of the analyses agreed on
Agreement
93%share of analyses that agreed
Analyses
148people who ran the extractor
One beat
407.9milliseconds, 60,000 ÷ BPM
Tuning
441.8Hz · +7 cents from A 440
Dynamics
3.79dB the level wanders from its average
Loudness
0.733Essentia's 0–1 scale, not dB
Danceability
1.098Essentia'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

148 independent analyses of this recording were submitted to AcousticBrainz. Most of them — 93% — put it in E minor, a key signature of 1 sharp. The tempo printed above is the median of the 148 readings; 98% of them land within 2% of it, and they barely differ at all.

At 147.1 BPM one beat lasts 407.9 milliseconds, so a sixteenth note is 102 ms and a dotted eighth 305.9 ms — the delay times for this recording. Counted half as fast it is 73.6 BPM, counted twice as fast 294.2. A score would mark that Allegro, by the ranges this site uses.

The analyses put the reference pitch of the recording at 441.8 Hz, which is 7 cents above 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 3.79 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 0.733 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 E 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 E minor

Each of these differs from E 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 147 BPM

Note valueBeatsMillisecondsHertz
Whole note41631.50.61
Half note2815.81.23
Dotted quarter1.5611.81.63
Quarter note (one beat)1407.92.45
Quarter triplet0.667271.93.68
Dotted eighth0.75305.93.27
Eighth note0.5203.94.9
Eighth triplet0.3331367.36
Dotted sixteenth0.3751536.54
Sixteenth note0.251029.81
Sixteenth triplet0.1676814.71
Thirty-second note0.1255119.61

Half time 73.6 BPM · double time 294.2 BPM. Every row is one beat (407.9 ms) times the fraction in the second column.

Closest in key and tempo

  1. El cóndor pasa (If I Could)Simon & GarfunkelE minor148BPM
  2. Achilles Last StandLed ZeppelinE minor147BPM
  3. MaroonedPink FloydE minor148BPM
  4. StarriderForeignerE minor146BPM
  5. HurtChristina AguileraE minor145BPM
  6. We’re Not Gonna Take ItTwisted SisterE minor149BPM
  7. Darts of PleasureFranz FerdinandE minor145BPM
  8. Ride Across the RiverDire StraitsE minor145BPM
  9. A Woman’s WorthAlicia KeysE minor150BPM
  10. Get in My Car50 CentE minor150BPM

Recordings in E minor, ordered by how near their tempo is to 147 BPM. A calculation, not a recommendation.

All songs in E minorAll songs at 147 BPME minor at 140–149 BPMCaptain Beefheart & His Magic Band

MusicBrainz collapses 1 recording id into this one. Recording id 48426acb-ac59-445d-ab28-9b8925c9c8f9.