The Cranberries · To the Faithful Departed
Free to Decide
Free to Decide is in A minor at 117.9 beats per minute.
Tempo
118 BPM · Moderatomedian of 175 analyses · 117.7–133.9 across the middle eight tenths- Key
- A minorno sharps and no flats · the key most of the analyses agreed on
- Agreement
- 43%share of analyses that agreed
- Analyses
- 175people who ran the extractor
- One beat
- 508.9milliseconds, 60,000 ÷ BPM
- Tuning
- 441.3Hz · +5 cents from A 440
- Dynamics
- 2.74dB the level wanders from its average
- Loudness
- 0.917Essentia's 0–1 scale, not dB
- Danceability
- 1.044Essentia'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
175 independent analyses of this recording were submitted to AcousticBrainz. Fewer than half of them — 43% — put it in A minor, a key signature of no sharps and no flats. The tempo printed above is the median of the 175 readings; 52% of them land within 2% of it, and the middle eight tenths of them run from 117.7 to 133.9 BPM.
At 117.9 BPM one beat lasts 508.9 milliseconds, so a sixteenth note is 127.2 ms and a dotted eighth 381.7 ms — the delay times for this recording. Counted half as fast it is 59 BPM, counted twice as fast 235.8. A score would mark that Moderato, by the ranges this site uses.
The analyses put the reference pitch of the recording at 441.3 Hz, which is 5 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 2.74 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 0.917 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 A 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 A minor
Each of these differs from A 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 118 BPM
| Note value | Beats | Milliseconds | Hertz |
|---|---|---|---|
| Whole note | 4 | 2035.6 | 0.49 |
| Half note | 2 | 1017.8 | 0.98 |
| Dotted quarter | 1.5 | 763.4 | 1.31 |
| Quarter note (one beat) | 1 | 508.9 | 1.97 |
| Quarter triplet | 0.667 | 339.3 | 2.95 |
| Dotted eighth | 0.75 | 381.7 | 2.62 |
| Eighth note | 0.5 | 254.5 | 3.93 |
| Eighth triplet | 0.333 | 169.6 | 5.9 |
| Dotted sixteenth | 0.375 | 190.8 | 5.24 |
| Sixteenth note | 0.25 | 127.2 | 7.86 |
| Sixteenth triplet | 0.167 | 84.8 | 11.79 |
| Thirty-second note | 0.125 | 63.6 | 15.72 |
Half time 59 BPM · double time 235.8 BPM. Every row is one beat (508.9 ms) times the fraction in the second column.
Closest in key and tempo
- The House of the Rising SunThe AnimalsA minor118BPM
- I Do Not Want ThisNine Inch NailsA minor118BPM
- Neat Neat NeatThe DamnedA minor118BPM
- SittingCat StevensA minor118BPM
- KlavierRammsteinA minor118BPM
- Stacy’s MomFountains of WayneA minor118BPM
- God Fearing ManBen HarperA minor118BPM
- Wayfaring StrangerJohnny CashA minor118BPM
- Why GoPearl JamA minor118BPM
- Don't Let Me Be Misunderstood + Esmeralda SuiteSanta EsmeraldaA minor118BPM
Recordings in A minor, ordered by how near their tempo is to 118 BPM. A calculation, not a recommendation.
All songs in A minorAll songs at 118 BPMA minor at 110–119 BPMThe Cranberries
MusicBrainz collapses 52 recording ids into this one. Recording id db69f8f2-e5ee-4eb3-a22e-e85ed4e3dedc.