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Easy now...

I don't produce, but have always wondered how you producers choose your BPMs and why...Now, I'm not talking 130 for House, 135 for Garage and 140 for Dubstep etc.....I'm talking the 141's, the 139's out there....Tracks that are at (to me) obscure BPM rates...

In terms of production, why would someone have a track at 141 instead of 140? Surely that track can't sound wrong at 140, but right upped by 1 can it?

This isn't a whiney thread or anything like that...just (innocently) wondering what the (probably simple) answer is.

Let me into your Secret Ninja Production world...

i dont produce but i think everyone has their sweet spot bpm where it sounds right to them
i tend to mixmy dubstep at 146 , anything slower or faster doesnt feel right if you get what i mean

I'm not producing but have knowledge of it.... you'd make a tune at whatever you want to make it, but whatever speed you make it at, that is the speed it will sound 'right' in, if you're mixing a track (djing) and using +/- pitch then the tune and tone of the track will be different.

When I mix I usually seem to be mixing with the pitch around +2 so If I were to start producing I'd be doing it at (I guess) 141/142

I'll quite often start at 140, do some drums then move the bpm about and sometimes you'll hit a sweet spot (and other times the difference is negligible). Recently I've been working more between 128-132 though, on a cotched vibe.

Cheers guys...this is really interesting to me, as pitching up a track by 1bpm is barely noticable (for me anyway). But, I suppose, when you've built the track you're focusing each individual section of it so closely, you'd be able to tell if something doesn't feel right?

I could start making music to experience this, but to be honest, it wouldn't matter if it were 140, 139 or 141, it'd still sound awful.

Slight adjustments to tempo could also be dependant on the key or sample used and how the drums fit with it...perhaps?

faust.dtc wrote:Slight adjustments to tempo could also be dependant on the key or sample used and how the drums fit with it...perhaps?

This. One hundred times this.

I had a tune that sounded great at 123, and I tried bumping it up to 128, just to make things easier... Tune SUCKED. Granted, I now hate that tune, so whatever.

djelements wrote:

faust.dtc wrote:Slight adjustments to tempo could also be dependant on the key or sample used and how the drums fit with it...perhaps?

This. One hundred times this.

I had a tune that sounded great at 123, and I tried bumping it up to 128, just to make things easier... Tune SUCKED. Granted, I now hate that tune, so whatever.

Did you use the wrong profile B?

Anyways...yeah cant agree more, 'accidentally' made a tune at 126 once and got a real nice swing to it but decided to bump it up 10 BPM to help it fit in with the tempo of other dubstep tracks I have and it lost all its quality.

faust.dtc wrote:Did you use the wrong profile B?

NO!






(Yes)

it's about space really, the more percussion in a track, the more it has room to breathe at lower tempo's which is why 2step and funky work well between 132 - 136 it can swing and halfstep works better between 138 - 142, but the difference between 1bpm ain't gonna make a whole lot of difference for anything other than spot on beatmatching tempo for tempo.

1bpm definitely makes a difference, I've been making hippity hoppity music recently and a boost from 94 to 95bpm definitely changes the 'headnod' factor...
95bpmftw

lloydnoise wrote:1bpm definitely makes a difference, I've been making hippity hoppity music recently and a boost from 94 to 95bpm definitely changes the 'headnod' factor...
95bpmftw

It probably does around that tempo when I used to make bits of hip-hop the difference was noticeable but between 138 and 139 I don't find it much.

I agree if your sampling something that can decide the BPM quite a bit.

I normally decide after ive wrote the melody because some patterns just feel too fast at 140 or occasionally too slow.

Another decider is the time signature, as that can change the beats per minute anyway.

But to tell the truth the BPM is the least of my concerns when im making a track.

lloydnoise wrote:1bpm definitely makes a difference, I've been making hippity hoppity music recently and a boost from 94 to 95bpm definitely changes the 'headnod' factor...
95bpmftw

you might be able to answer this then - why are there so many tracks produced at 92.5bpm.... is that 1/2 bpm so important? 92 doesnt cut it, but 93 is too much...

it could be that head-nod sweet-spot as you say, its such a common bpm that there must something mystical too it...

Correct me if I'm wrong but at 90bpm say, the difference between 90 and 91 is bigger than the difference between 140 and 141, so a half a bpm at lower speeds may be the same as 1 bpm at higher speeds.

j-one wrote:I'll quite often start at 140, do some drums then move the bpm about and sometimes you'll hit a sweet spot

^^ that

my tunes that are at "obscure" bpm's are because they sound better, powerful, or more cohesive at those tempos

also...

a lot of producers let the samples dictate their tempo.. if they base the tune off of a sample that comes in at 137... they just make the tune at 137, etc...

faust.dtc wrote:Did you use the wrong profile B?

lol @ "obscure" bpms. dubstep has made people retarded.

usually if im making dubstep i just scroll up/down to 140 and if i land on 141, then 141 it is! doesnt really matter tbh because whatever bpm it is you'll naturally make the track sound right for it.

constrobuz wrote:lol @ "obscure" bpms. dubstep has made people retarded.

haha

I thought that too...

I was quoting the O.P.

herbalicious wrote:Tracks that are at (to me) obscure BPM rates...