The B‐52s · Bouncing off the Satellites
Communicate
Communicate is in D minor at 146.7 beats per minute.
Tempo
147 BPM · Allegromedian of 164 analyses · 146.7–146.7 across the middle eight tenths- Key
- D minor1 flat · the key most of the analyses agreed on
- Agreement
- 100%share of analyses that agreed
- Analyses
- 164people who ran the extractor
- One beat
- 409milliseconds, 60,000 ÷ BPM
- Tuning
- 446.9Hz · +27 cents from A 440
- Dynamics
- 4.14dB the level wanders from its average
- Loudness
- 0.906Essentia's 0–1 scale, not dB
- Danceability
- 1.608Essentia'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
164 independent analyses of this recording were submitted to AcousticBrainz. All but a handful of them — 100% — put it in D minor, a key signature of 1 flat. The tempo printed above is the median of the 164 readings; 99% of them land within 2% of it, and they barely differ at all.
At 146.7 BPM one beat lasts 409 milliseconds, so a sixteenth note is 102.2 ms and a dotted eighth 306.7 ms — the delay times for this recording. Counted half as fast it is 73.4 BPM, counted twice as fast 293.4. A score would mark that Allegro, by the ranges this site uses.
The analyses put the reference pitch of the recording at 446.9 Hz, which is 27 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 4.14 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 0.906 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 147 BPM
| Note value | Beats | Milliseconds | Hertz |
|---|---|---|---|
| Whole note | 4 | 1636 | 0.61 |
| Half note | 2 | 818 | 1.22 |
| Dotted quarter | 1.5 | 613.5 | 1.63 |
| Quarter note (one beat) | 1 | 409 | 2.44 |
| Quarter triplet | 0.667 | 272.7 | 3.67 |
| Dotted eighth | 0.75 | 306.7 | 3.26 |
| Eighth note | 0.5 | 204.5 | 4.89 |
| Eighth triplet | 0.333 | 136.3 | 7.33 |
| Dotted sixteenth | 0.375 | 153.4 | 6.52 |
| Sixteenth note | 0.25 | 102.2 | 9.78 |
| Sixteenth triplet | 0.167 | 68.2 | 14.67 |
| Thirty-second note | 0.125 | 51.1 | 19.56 |
Half time 73.4 BPM · double time 293.4 BPM. Every row is one beat (409 ms) times the fraction in the second column.
Closest in key and tempo
- I RanA Flock of SeagullsD minor146BPM
- Poppin’ TagsJay‐Z feat. Big Boi, Killer Mike & TwistaD minor146BPM
- DOAFoo FightersD minor146BPM
- PlutoBjörkD minor148BPM
- Sweet LeafBlack SabbathD minor148BPM
- FreedomRage Against the MachineD minor145BPM
- Bück dichRammsteinD minor149BPM
- Red BarchettaRushD minor144BPM
- SorceryTim DaviesD minor144BPM
- HeadlongQueenD minor144BPM
Recordings in D minor, ordered by how near their tempo is to 147 BPM. A calculation, not a recommendation.
All songs in D minorAll songs at 147 BPMD minor at 140–149 BPMThe B‐52s
MusicBrainz collapses 1 recording id into this one. Recording id 086b90f4-dd33-4f94-bc19-23afd4f315b5.