tempos that aren't really used in music today

Alfons

Way of the future
So I was thinking about how various dnb producers have been saying they would like to slow the music down but haven't really done so and it made me think is there stuff being made today at the "old" dnb tempo 155-165 bpm? Not talking about the odd tune, but maybe a scene, sound or a genre working at that tempo.
 

Guybrush

Dittohead
Interesting topic. Until recently, the 110–120 range used to be undervalued, but now you got both the urban camp (hyphy + up-tempo commercial stuff, «Oh Go», «Smack That», etc.) and the dance camp (slow-mo disco/house) treading that water. Generally speaking, I’ll bet 95% of all dance tracks are in the 90–105 or 120–130 region. Conformism? You betcha. I love non-rock songs with a non-4-on-the-floor-kick in the 135-ish region. More please. (See Freestyler’s «Push Up».)
 

mos dan

fact music
how do you even know what a bpm is, without counting (or mixing, i guess)? i mean could you have heard 'smack that' for the first time and said to yourself after the first verse or two 'yeah, that's in the region of 110-120'?

maybe my post should have gone in the 'ask stupid questions' thread but not to worry, i have no shame.
 

Guybrush

Dittohead
how do you even know what a bpm is, without counting (or mixing, i guess)? i mean could you have heard 'smack that' for the first time and said to yourself after the first verse or two 'yeah, that's in the region of 110-120'?

I can tell it in a few seconds, with a margin of error of about 2 or 3 bpm. You get the hang of it quickly. The trick is to weight it against tunes that you do know the exact bpm of.
 

mistersloane

heavy heavy monster sound
Yeah you generally get an idea - fats or slow, then I count for about 10 seconds, 20. I get within 5 bpm generally. Not totally on point lol!
 

Alfons

Way of the future
Interesting topic. Until recently, the 110–120 range used to be undervalued, but now you got both the urban camp (hyphy + up-tempo commercial stuff, «Oh Go», «Smack That», etc.) and the dance camp (slow-mo disco/house) treading that water. Generally speaking, I’ll bet 95% of all dance tracks are in the 90–105 or 120–130 region. Conformism? You betcha. I love non-rock songs with a non-4-on-the-floor-kick in the 135-ish region. More please. (See Freestyler’s «Push Up».)

Yeah I think 110-120 was used less a couple of years ago but it's pretty common these days


Grime's like 140bpm, isn't it? usually.
Somewhere around that I would think, dubstep tends to be around 140.


I can tell it in a few seconds, with a margin of error of about 2 or 3 bpm. You get the hang of it quickly. The trick is to weight it against tunes that you do know the exact bpm of.

It's something you get the hang of, I agree. I usually measure against songs that I know too, have different tunes for different genres which I compare to in my head (sometimes I even rap in my head, to see what tempo the lyrics would have to be... :rolleyes: ).

Maybe it's more of a dj thing though. Bpm's aren't all that important in other contexts. But it's interresting in terms of evolution of genres/music too. In hardcore and the early years of jungle/dnb the tempos changed pretty fast (no pun intended), going from 120 to 140 and then 160-170 right?

I don't think I know of anything being made in the 155-165 region today, 60-80 bpm might be another region where there isn't to much going on (if you count halfstep as 140...) ?
 

mistersloane

heavy heavy monster sound
I think the time signatures thing is really interesting, the way Danny Weed and Wiley use, I think 3/4 and 7/8 rather than 4/4.
 

Guybrush

Dittohead
is there stuff being made today at the "old" dnb tempo 155-165 bpm? Not talking about the odd tune, but maybe a scene, sound or a genre working at that tempo.

There are very few songs I can think of in this tempo-range, actually—except for rock songs («Hey Ya» is 159). Robyn’s «Be Mine» is 155–160-ish, but that works better slowed down to the 140–150 region («Toxic», quite a lot of Miami Bass, Ghetto-Tech, etc.), so I wouldn’t count that one. That song has only two kicks per bar—giving it a slightly rocky feeling—and, generally, I find four-on-the-floor kick drums rare in songs exceeding the 140 mark (Ghetto-Tech being an exception), possibly as it becomes hard to keep up with too many kicks from there on up. Loads and loads of rock in that range, though.
 

Guybrush

Dittohead
60-80 bpm might be another region where there isn't to much going on (if you count halfstep as 140...) ?

But there you have got a lot of crunk and Timbaland-style half-tempo (whatever it’s called) R&B («Say My Name», say). Plus reggae of yore.
 

Alfons

Way of the future
zero bpm is the next one I reckon

I hear that 3 bph stuff is getting big


There are very few songs I can think of in this tempo-range, actually—except for rock songs («Hey Ya» is 159). Robyn’s «Be Mine» is 155–160-ish, but that works better slowed down to the 140–150 region («Toxic», quite a lot of Miami Bass, Ghetto-Tech, etc.), so I wouldn’t count that one. That song has only two kicks per bar—giving it a slightly rocky feeling—and, generally, I find four-on-the-floor kick drums rare in songs exceeding the 140 mark (Ghetto-Tech being an exception), possibly as it becomes hard to keep up with too many kicks from there on up. Loads and loads of rock in that range, though.

I agree with four-on-the-floor bassdrums not working that well past 135-140 (the odd stompish 4/4 dnb tune is good though). A lot of rock/pop stuff might sneak into 155 and above, but there's no definite style (that I know) that works solely within that tempo. This might be connected to why only dj's care about bpm's, in rock, pop and non-electronic/non-dj music youre not that tied down to a specific tempo.
 

DJ PIMP

Well-known member
Currently loving 110-115 and 124ish-129 or so.

Much over that and nowadays me arfritis starts playin up innit.
 

bassnation

the abyss
I don't think I know of anything being made in the 155-165 region today, 60-80 bpm might be another region where there isn't to much going on (if you count halfstep as 140...) ?

ghettotech is usually around the 150-160 mark, so is a lot of electro - plus artists like peaches. i can mix godfather tracks with old skool hardcore.
 

Gabba Flamenco Crossover

High Sierra Skullfuck
Techno used to be much faster than it is now. Someone recently gave me a load of 92-94 era techno sets from people like Colin Dale, Dave Angel and various chicago/djax types. It is bloody quick! They were getting it up to about 145-150 bpm. No one really makes techno that fast now.

I think they could do that because the production on the tracks was quite clean and simple and they didn't put any swing on the drums, so they could jack it up to those speeds without it sounding cluttered. Compare that to someone like surgeon now who uses a lot of distorted sounds and quite complex textures in the tracks - that stuff needs room to breathe, it sounds like a dog's dinner if you play it too fast.

I gues techno probably split in the mid 90s, because of the producers who were more aligned with house started to think that the music was getting a bit silly, and making a coscious effort to get the groove back into the music. Those who didn't feel that way went off to make acid techno and trance.
 

ripley

Well-known member
some of the detroit jit music stuff is near 150. But I don't know a lot of other new stuff at that speed.

I've been working on sets at the 110-115 range and it still requires more eclecticism (unless it's all the faster side of hyphy), but it's a nice bumpin' speed and there's some glitchy breaky things floating around at that tempo.
 

gabriel

The Heatwave
I don't think I know of anything being made in the 155-165 region today, 60-80 bpm might be another region where there isn't to much going on (if you count halfstep as 140...) ?

a lot of soca is around 160bpm (though it can be as slow as 100 as well)

a huge amount of reggae is made in the 60-80bpm range, though a lot is faster too. i would probably call halfstep 70bpm, like a lot of reggae

there's been a lot of bashment in the last few of years in the 105-120 range, as well as loads of 120-130 stuff ever since coolie dance came out
 
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