Introduction
The purpose of this guide is to help you build a muscle memory, when you have enough experience it will become natural and you will instantly know what BPM of any song you listen to, more accurate with less errors.
What to listening for if you want to know the BPM of the songs.
- Beat of the song. Mostly are drums and bass and most of the percussion sound. These are the most common to listen to or any steady and even sounding.
**If you have a hard time hearing the beat, try to use EQ with Low pass filter (high cut) and cut eveything but drums and bass sound (anything above 250-350Hz)
How to count a beats
- Play the song and start counting how many beats you hear as soon as the first beat plays
**There is no need to count to 1 minunte. Counting between 10-20seconds is perfectly fine and you might as well use your phone as stop watch, count it in your head or using pencil and piece of paper, anything will do just fine.
- After you got the number of beats you already counted then you can multiply the number of beats by 4 or 6 depend on the duration that you has been counting.
Example1 : You counted 20 beat in 10 seconds then you multiply by 6 (20*6 = 120BPM)
Example2 : You counted 30 beat in 15 seconds then you multiply by 4 (30*4 = 120BPM)
Example3 : You counted 40 beat in 20 seconds then you multiply by 3 (40*3 = 120BPM)
**You can also calculate BPM by using song's time signature something like 1-2-3-4, 1-2-3-4, although most of the song using 4/4 time signature measurement but some of the song doesn't. Some may use 3/4 or 6/8 time signature.
Example : 8 measures * 6 beats per measure = 48 beat in 15 seconds and then you multiply the number of beats in 15 seconds by 4 (48*4 = 192BPM)
Practice beatmatching and improve your accuracy.
It's actually quite simple to do. First start is to listen to the song that have prominent beat. Electronic music genres like Trance or House is very good for practicing, it doesn't matter if you already know the BPM of the song.
The purpose of this guide is to help you build a muscle memory, when you have enough experience it will become natural and you will instantly know what BPM of any song you listen to, more accurate with less errors.
What to listening for if you want to know the BPM of the songs.
- Beat of the song. Mostly are drums and bass and most of the percussion sound. These are the most common to listen to or any steady and even sounding.
**If you have a hard time hearing the beat, try to use EQ with Low pass filter (high cut) and cut eveything but drums and bass sound (anything above 250-350Hz)
How to count a beats
- Play the song and start counting how many beats you hear as soon as the first beat plays
**There is no need to count to 1 minunte. Counting between 10-20seconds is perfectly fine and you might as well use your phone as stop watch, count it in your head or using pencil and piece of paper, anything will do just fine.
- After you got the number of beats you already counted then you can multiply the number of beats by 4 or 6 depend on the duration that you has been counting.
Example1 : You counted 20 beat in 10 seconds then you multiply by 6 (20*6 = 120BPM)
Example2 : You counted 30 beat in 15 seconds then you multiply by 4 (30*4 = 120BPM)
Example3 : You counted 40 beat in 20 seconds then you multiply by 3 (40*3 = 120BPM)
**You can also calculate BPM by using song's time signature something like 1-2-3-4, 1-2-3-4, although most of the song using 4/4 time signature measurement but some of the song doesn't. Some may use 3/4 or 6/8 time signature.
Example : 8 measures * 6 beats per measure = 48 beat in 15 seconds and then you multiply the number of beats in 15 seconds by 4 (48*4 = 192BPM)
Practice beatmatching and improve your accuracy.
It's actually quite simple to do. First start is to listen to the song that have prominent beat. Electronic music genres like Trance or House is very good for practicing, it doesn't matter if you already know the BPM of the song.
