Nine Inch Nails · The Downward Spiral
Mr Self Destruct
Mr Self Destruct is in D minor at 99.9 beats per minute.
Tempo
100 BPM · Andantemedian of 172 analyses · 99.7–100 across the middle eight tenths- Key
- D minor1 flat · the key most of the analyses agreed on
- Agreement
- 91%share of analyses that agreed
- Analyses
- 172people who ran the extractor
- One beat
- 600.6milliseconds, 60,000 ÷ BPM
- Tuning
- 434.2Hz · -23 cents from A 440
- Dynamics
- 7.33dB the level wanders from its average
- Loudness
- 0.308Essentia's 0–1 scale, not dB
- Danceability
- 0.906Essentia'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
172 independent analyses of this recording were submitted to AcousticBrainz. Most of them — 91% — put it in D minor, a key signature of 1 flat. The tempo printed above is the median of the 172 readings; 98% of them land within 2% of it, and they barely differ at all.
At 99.9 BPM one beat lasts 600.6 milliseconds, so a sixteenth note is 150.2 ms and a dotted eighth 450.5 ms — the delay times for this recording. Counted half as fast it is 50 BPM, counted twice as fast 199.8. 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 7.33 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 0.308 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 100 BPM
| Note value | Beats | Milliseconds | Hertz |
|---|---|---|---|
| Whole note | 4 | 2402.4 | 0.42 |
| Half note | 2 | 1201.2 | 0.83 |
| Dotted quarter | 1.5 | 900.9 | 1.11 |
| Quarter note (one beat) | 1 | 600.6 | 1.67 |
| Quarter triplet | 0.667 | 400.4 | 2.5 |
| Dotted eighth | 0.75 | 450.5 | 2.22 |
| Eighth note | 0.5 | 300.3 | 3.33 |
| Eighth triplet | 0.333 | 200.2 | 5 |
| Dotted sixteenth | 0.375 | 225.2 | 4.44 |
| Sixteenth note | 0.25 | 150.2 | 6.66 |
| Sixteenth triplet | 0.167 | 100.1 | 9.99 |
| Thirty-second note | 0.125 | 75.1 | 13.32 |
Half time 50 BPM · double time 199.8 BPM. Every row is one beat (600.6 ms) times the fraction in the second column.
Closest in key and tempo
- Something About UsDaft PunkD minor100BPM
- Something About Us (Love Theme From Interstella 5555)Daft PunkD minor100BPM
- NaturalImagine DragonsD minor100BPM
- FiresideArctic MonkeysD minor100BPM
- Me and My FriendsThe Red Hot Chili PeppersD minor100BPM
- H.ToolD minor100BPM
- AcrobatU2D minor100BPM
- Sweet EmotionAerosmithD minor101BPM
- Lay Your Hands on MeBon JoviD minor101BPM
- Another Brick in the Wall, Part 1Pink FloydD minor99BPM
Recordings in D minor, ordered by how near their tempo is to 100 BPM. A calculation, not a recommendation.
All songs in D minorAll songs at 100 BPMD minor at 90–99 BPMNine Inch Nails
MusicBrainz collapses 37 recording ids into this one. Recording id 96f64611-49df-4e54-84e7-0f9a30f01766.