TempoPeek

Moby · Play

If Things Were Perfect

If Things Were Perfect is in C major at 82.9 beats per minute.

4080120160200

Tempo

83 BPM · Andantemedian of 162 analyses · 82.8–83 across the middle eight tenths
Key
C majorno sharps and no flats · the key most of the analyses agreed on
Agreement
97%share of analyses that agreed
Analyses
162people who ran the extractor
One beat
723.8milliseconds, 60,000 ÷ BPM
Tuning
436.7Hz · -13 cents from A 440
Dynamics
4.01dB the level wanders from its average
Loudness
0.874Essentia's 0–1 scale, not dB
Danceability
1.079Essentia'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

162 independent analyses of this recording were submitted to AcousticBrainz. All but a handful of them — 97% — put it in C major, a key signature of no sharps and no flats. The tempo printed above is the median of the 162 readings; 100% of them land within 2% of it, and they barely differ at all.

At 82.9 BPM one beat lasts 723.8 milliseconds, so a sixteenth note is 180.9 ms and a dotted eighth 542.8 ms — the delay times for this recording. Counted half as fast it is 41.5 BPM, counted twice as fast 165.8. A score would mark that Andante, by the ranges this site uses.

The analyses put the reference pitch of the recording at 436.7 Hz, which is 13 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 4.01 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 0.874 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 C 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 C major

Each of these differs from C 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 83 BPM

Note valueBeatsMillisecondsHertz
Whole note42895.10.35
Half note21447.50.69
Dotted quarter1.51085.60.92
Quarter note (one beat)1723.81.38
Quarter triplet0.667482.52.07
Dotted eighth0.75542.81.84
Eighth note0.5361.92.76
Eighth triplet0.333241.34.15
Dotted sixteenth0.375271.43.68
Sixteenth note0.25180.95.53
Sixteenth triplet0.167120.68.29
Thirty-second note0.12590.511.05

Half time 41.5 BPM · double time 165.8 BPM. Every row is one beat (723.8 ms) times the fraction in the second column.

Closest in key and tempo

  1. Watching the WheelsJohn LennonC major83BPM
  2. Set Adrift on Memory BlissBackstreet BoysC major83BPM
  3. All My LifeFoo FightersC major84BPM
  4. Float OnDanny Brown feat. Charli XCXC major82BPM
  5. TrumpetsJason DeruloC major82BPM
  6. The Sky Is BrokenMobyC major82BPM
  7. A Great Day for FreedomPink FloydC major84BPM
  8. For My LoverTracy ChapmanC major81BPM
  9. Golden SlumbersThe BeatlesC major81BPM
  10. All I NeedAWOLNATIONC major81BPM

Recordings in C major, ordered by how near their tempo is to 83 BPM. A calculation, not a recommendation.

All songs in C majorAll songs at 83 BPMC major at 80–89 BPMMoby

MusicBrainz collapses 2 recording ids into this one. Recording id 012d9d20-692e-431a-87e1-ec6ef217aef7.