TempoPeek

Dire Straits · Dire Straits

Down to the Waterline

Down to the Waterline is in E minor at 139.1 beats per minute.

4080120160200

Tempo

139 BPM · Allegromedian of 259 analyses · 138.9–143.5 across the middle eight tenths
Key
E minor1 sharp · the key most of the analyses agreed on
Agreement
89%share of analyses that agreed
Analyses
259people who ran the extractor
One beat
431.3milliseconds, 60,000 ÷ BPM
Tuning
437.5Hz · -10 cents from A 440
Dynamics
8.45dB the level wanders from its average
Loudness
0.577Essentia's 0–1 scale, not dB
Danceability
1.196Essentia'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

259 independent analyses of this recording were submitted to AcousticBrainz. Most of them — 89% — put it in E minor, a key signature of 1 sharp. The tempo printed above is the median of the 259 readings; 87% of them land within 2% of it, and the middle eight tenths of them run from 138.9 to 143.5 BPM.

At 139.1 BPM one beat lasts 431.3 milliseconds, so a sixteenth note is 107.8 ms and a dotted eighth 323.5 ms — the delay times for this recording. Counted half as fast it is 69.6 BPM, counted twice as fast 278.2. A score would mark that Allegro, by the ranges this site uses.

The analyses put the reference pitch of the recording at 437.5 Hz, which is 10 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 8.45 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 0.577 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 139 BPM

Note valueBeatsMillisecondsHertz
Whole note41725.40.58
Half note2862.71.16
Dotted quarter1.56471.55
Quarter note (one beat)1431.32.32
Quarter triplet0.667287.63.48
Dotted eighth0.75323.53.09
Eighth note0.5215.74.64
Eighth triplet0.333143.86.96
Dotted sixteenth0.375161.86.18
Sixteenth note0.25107.89.27
Sixteenth triplet0.16771.913.91
Thirty-second note0.12553.918.55

Half time 69.6 BPM · double time 278.2 BPM. Every row is one beat (431.3 ms) times the fraction in the second column.

Closest in key and tempo

  1. DenisBlondieE minor139BPM
  2. Leper MessiahMetallicaE minor139BPM
  3. Goon SquadElvis Costello & The AttractionsE minor139BPM
  4. TroubleColdplayE minor140BPM
  5. Learning to LiveDream TheaterE minor140BPM
  6. AnthemRushE minor140BPM
  7. Eleanor RigbyThe BeatlesE minor137BPM
  8. Knights of CydoniaMuseE minor137BPM
  9. Human After AllDaft PunkE minor136BPM
  10. [Grey Stripe]Aphex TwinE minor136BPM

Recordings in E minor, ordered by how near their tempo is to 139 BPM. A calculation, not a recommendation.

All songs in E minorAll songs at 139 BPME minor at 130–139 BPMDire Straits

MusicBrainz collapses 47 recording ids into this one. Recording id 39d891c0-b550-4568-a8a9-43c66900734b.