TempoPeek

Dire Straits · Brothers in Arms

Walk of Life

Walk of Life is in E major at 86 beats per minute.

4080120160200

Tempo

86 BPM · Andantemedian of 444 analyses · 85.8–172.3 across the middle eight tenths
Key
E major4 sharps · the key most of the analyses agreed on
Agreement
97%share of analyses that agreed
Analyses
444people who ran the extractor
One beat
697.7milliseconds, 60,000 ÷ BPM
Tuning
434.2Hz · -23 cents from A 440
Dynamics
5.27dB the level wanders from its average
Loudness
0.735Essentia's 0–1 scale, not dB
Danceability
1.179Essentia'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

444 independent analyses of this recording were submitted to AcousticBrainz. All but a handful of them — 97% — put it in E major, a key signature of 4 sharps. The tempo printed above is the median of the 444 readings; 52% of them land within 2% of it, and the middle eight tenths of them run from 85.8 to 172.3 BPM.

At 86 BPM one beat lasts 697.7 milliseconds, so a sixteenth note is 174.4 ms and a dotted eighth 523.3 ms — the delay times for this recording. Counted half as fast it is 43 BPM, counted twice as fast 172. A score would mark that Andante, 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 5.27 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 0.735 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 major; 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 major

Each of these differs from E major 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 86 BPM

Note valueBeatsMillisecondsHertz
Whole note42790.70.36
Half note21395.30.72
Dotted quarter1.51046.50.96
Quarter note (one beat)1697.71.43
Quarter triplet0.667465.12.15
Dotted eighth0.75523.31.91
Eighth note0.5348.82.87
Eighth triplet0.333232.64.3
Dotted sixteenth0.375261.63.82
Sixteenth note0.25174.45.73
Sixteenth triplet0.167116.38.6
Thirty-second note0.12587.211.47

Half time 43 BPM · double time 172 BPM. Every row is one beat (697.7 ms) times the fraction in the second column.

Closest in key and tempo

  1. Eyes Without a FaceBilly IdolE major86BPM
  2. Pumpkin and Honey Bunny / MisirlouTim Roth and Amanda Plummer / Dick Dale and His Del‐TonesE major86BPM
  3. Tradin’ War Stories2Pac feat. Dramacydal, C‐Bo & StormE major87BPM
  4. Platypus (I Hate You)Green DayE major87BPM
  5. Pour Some Sugar on MeDef LeppardE major85BPM
  6. My 1st SingleEminemE major85BPM
  7. PerfectAlanis MorissetteE major85BPM
  8. Monkey WrenchFoo FightersE major87BPM
  9. Thought I’d Died and Gone to HeavenBryan AdamsE major87BPM
  10. Find Someone Like YouSnoh AalegraE major85BPM

Recordings in E major, ordered by how near their tempo is to 86 BPM. A calculation, not a recommendation.

All songs in E majorAll songs at 86 BPME major at 80–89 BPMDire Straits

MusicBrainz collapses 69 recording ids into this one. Recording id 14aa051a-051f-4faf-8a08-ed46dc32c65b.