TempoPeek

Howlin’ Wolf · The Blues Collection 7: London Sessions

Smokestack Lightnin’

Smokestack Lightnin’ is in E minor at 145.3 beats per minute.

4080120160200

Tempo

145 BPM · Allegromedian of 180 analyses · 145–146.6 across the middle eight tenths
Key
E minor1 sharp · the key most of the analyses agreed on
Agreement
42%share of analyses that agreed
Analyses
180people who ran the extractor
One beat
412.9milliseconds, 60,000 ÷ BPM
Tuning
447.9Hz · +31 cents from A 440
Dynamics
6.22dB the level wanders from its average
Loudness
0.418Essentia's 0–1 scale, not dB
Danceability
1.057Essentia'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

180 independent analyses of this recording were submitted to AcousticBrainz. Fewer than half of them — 42% — put it in E minor, a key signature of 1 sharp. The tempo printed above is the median of the 180 readings; 100% of them land within 2% of it, and the middle eight tenths of them run from 145 to 146.6 BPM.

At 145.3 BPM one beat lasts 412.9 milliseconds, so a sixteenth note is 103.2 ms and a dotted eighth 309.7 ms — the delay times for this recording. Counted half as fast it is 72.7 BPM, counted twice as fast 290.6. A score would mark that Allegro, by the ranges this site uses.

The analyses put the reference pitch of the recording at 447.9 Hz, which is 31 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 6.22 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 0.418 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 145 BPM

Note valueBeatsMillisecondsHertz
Whole note41651.80.61
Half note2825.91.21
Dotted quarter1.5619.41.61
Quarter note (one beat)1412.92.42
Quarter triplet0.667275.33.63
Dotted eighth0.75309.73.23
Eighth note0.5206.54.84
Eighth triplet0.333137.67.27
Dotted sixteenth0.375154.96.46
Sixteenth note0.25103.29.69
Sixteenth triplet0.16768.814.53
Thirty-second note0.12551.619.37

Half time 72.7 BPM · double time 290.6 BPM. Every row is one beat (412.9 ms) times the fraction in the second column.

Closest in key and tempo

  1. HurtChristina AguileraE minor145BPM
  2. Darts of PleasureFranz FerdinandE minor145BPM
  3. StarriderForeignerE minor146BPM
  4. Ride Across the RiverDire StraitsE minor145BPM
  5. Achilles Last StandLed ZeppelinE minor147BPM
  6. East Jesus NowhereGreen DayE minor144BPM
  7. Yellow BellyThriceE minor144BPM
  8. Fitzpleasurealt‐JE minor144BPM
  9. SomaSmashing PumpkinsE minor144BPM
  10. The Guitar ManBreadE minor144BPM

Recordings in E minor, ordered by how near their tempo is to 145 BPM. A calculation, not a recommendation.

All songs in E minorAll songs at 145 BPME minor at 140–149 BPMHowlin’ Wolf

MusicBrainz collapses 86 recording ids into this one. Recording id c89afc85-ca05-49aa-9463-ad08a96e0eeb.