David Bowie · Diamond Dogs
1984
1984 is in D minor at 118 beats per minute.
Tempo
118 BPM · Moderatomedian of 275 analyses · 118–119.6 across the middle eight tenths- Key
- D minor1 flat · the key most of the analyses agreed on
- Agreement
- 100%share of analyses that agreed
- Analyses
- 275people who ran the extractor
- One beat
- 508.5milliseconds, 60,000 ÷ BPM
- Tuning
- 434.2Hz · -23 cents from A 440
- Dynamics
- 5.61dB the level wanders from its average
- Loudness
- 0.792Essentia's 0–1 scale, not dB
- Danceability
- 1Essentia'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
275 independent analyses of this recording were submitted to AcousticBrainz. All but a handful of them — 100% — put it in D minor, a key signature of 1 flat. The tempo printed above is the median of the 275 readings; 97% of them land within 2% of it, and the middle eight tenths of them run from 118 to 119.6 BPM.
At 118 BPM one beat lasts 508.5 milliseconds, so a sixteenth note is 127.1 ms and a dotted eighth 381.4 ms — the delay times for this recording. Counted half as fast it is 59 BPM, counted twice as fast 236. A score would mark that Moderato, 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 5.61 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 0.792 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 D 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 D minor
Each of these differs from D 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 118 BPM
| Note value | Beats | Milliseconds | Hertz |
|---|---|---|---|
| Whole note | 4 | 2033.9 | 0.49 |
| Half note | 2 | 1016.9 | 0.98 |
| Dotted quarter | 1.5 | 762.7 | 1.31 |
| Quarter note (one beat) | 1 | 508.5 | 1.97 |
| Quarter triplet | 0.667 | 339 | 2.95 |
| Dotted eighth | 0.75 | 381.4 | 2.62 |
| Eighth note | 0.5 | 254.2 | 3.93 |
| Eighth triplet | 0.333 | 169.5 | 5.9 |
| Dotted sixteenth | 0.375 | 190.7 | 5.24 |
| Sixteenth note | 0.25 | 127.1 | 7.87 |
| Sixteenth triplet | 0.167 | 84.7 | 11.8 |
| Thirty-second note | 0.125 | 63.6 | 15.73 |
Half time 59 BPM · double time 236 BPM. Every row is one beat (508.5 ms) times the fraction in the second column.
The same title by somebody else
Matched on the title alone, so this list can hold a different song that happens to share a name. Nothing here claims one is a cover of the other.
Closest in key and tempo
- MesopotamiaThe B‐52sD minor118BPM
- Nick of TimeBonnie RaittD minor118BPM
- Der KommissarFalcoD minor118BPM
- Everybody’s Got Something to Hide Except Me and My MonkeyThe BeatlesD minor118BPM
- Six Blade KnifeDire StraitsD minor117BPM
- This Velvet GloveRed Hot Chili PeppersD minor119BPM
- The Eyes of a WomanJourneyD minor117BPM
- Car WashRose RoyceD minor117BPM
- SexyBackJustin Timberlake feat. TimbalandD minor117BPM
- ARTPOPLady GagaD minor117BPM
Recordings in D minor, ordered by how near their tempo is to 118 BPM. A calculation, not a recommendation.
All songs in D minorAll songs at 118 BPMD minor at 110–119 BPMDavid Bowie
MusicBrainz collapses 33 recording ids into this one. Recording id 6b3e5418-c624-421c-a180-1ebb95a1936f.