How do you find your BPM?

i am just curious on how everyone finds their BPM for each song? In my productions i have been struggleing with the fact that alot of my songs have similiar BPM and i am getting worried they are all sounding the same... just curious... I sometimes just go with the samples BPM but im trying to get away from that and come up with some original shit u know?

http://www.djprince.no/software.htm
get winbpm and tape your spacebar to the beat. like 1 2 3 4, 2 2 3 4, 3 2 3 4, 4 2 3 4. And yuo will get an accurate reading you can also use the mpcs tap tempo button, but u have to goto other mode and set the tap tempo to 4.

how to calculate the bpm knowing the exact time of the loop and the amount of beats (assuming that its looped perfectly) There is a formula for this..

i use this a multi level thc meter

(sorry about the blurry ness my I-site is phucked again today)







naaw it's a vestax bpm counter
work excellent.

ohh and the answer to

how to calculate the bpm knowing the exact time of the loop and the amount of beats (assuming that its looped perfectly) There is a formula for this..

you take a stop watch and count up and down beat for 30 sec and the number you get at the end of 30 sec's you times it times two and thats your bpm, i use to do it that way till i got the mutilevel THC meter.^^

hmmm this isnt really what im talking about... i know how to find the BPM of a sample and time stretch and things like that... i was just wondering how u guys determine the final songs BPM cause if i time stretch every sample to 93BPM i lose originality real quick... u feel me?

a great topic for discussion. Its very easy to get stuck in a particualr formula -- or more precisely to try and perfect a particular formula. Sometimes its not easy to force yourself out. I have a lot of different ways:
If your starting with a non-drum sample, try and find a pitch that suits your ear first. Then see what kind of tempos it has. There will be an internal tempo to the sample even if you chop it up into pieces. Sometimes I try to loop little pieces and see if it swings at all. Then I add some temp drums, just to check the tempo, then producto time. I recomend starting without drums for a bit till you can train your ear away for the ole 93bpmmer. Maybe even make things that have no driving beat or any beat at all.

If you got some great drums, don't change thier pitch that much and do that 70bpm or 118bpm track. Just say f**k it.

For me, the key is to stay away from just laying down a 90bpm pattern before I start some new things. Good luck.

chop ur samples up, but it is good to pick and set a bpm when u begin. I always know what bpm its going to be due to the other samples. Through editing i determine what the tempo is.

i agree wtih simcity.

I personally try to convey a mood with my samples. i mean, when im finding samples, they evoked some sort of emotion out of me to begin with, i try to cary that same emotion to the track. You sort of have to think backwards. Like 90 bpm doesnt make a good hiphop track. What makes a good hiphop track is how it makes you feel regardless of its tempo.

tempo is irrelavant.

I also apply the phylosophy, that each sound already has its map layed out for it. The sample knows where it wants to go, once you start adding your drums, more samples, chopping the sample, the song takes shape, the sample gets closer to where it wants to be.............all you gotta do is interpet it, and decide where its telling you to take it. Let the sounds speak to you. You dont put them where "YOU" want them, but where they want to go; all you are doing is interpeting the sound and interpeting combinations of sounds. Each producer interpets sounds differantly, this is why we all can use the same set of samples and make completely differant beats.

Also. I mean, depending on how you start out your beat, whether its with drums, or with samples, you first need to interpet your sound. I especially do this alot with the bassline. Ill listen to drums, then they sort of tell me what notes to use, and where to put the bass hits so that they groove to the drums. Apply that same feeling to your tempo choice. Listen to how your shit grooves. and listen to where your sounds want to be tempo wise.

The answer is already infront of you face, you just gotta learn how to see it. Use your ears, dont always use your list of rules in your head.

Peace.

yea i tend to do a lot of beats in the 80's because i'm a chill person but lately i've been trying to speed it up a little to the mid-90's and even a few fast paced ones (around 110). i'll do a double time beat here and there when the loop or chops call for it and i don't want to drastically change the key/tuning.

i never start with drums so i go with what the sample dictates either through it's loop tempo or from the speed/feel i get from playing the chops. if i feel like a loop is going too slow for a rap track and i can tune it up without making the sample sound annoying then i do that and work with the new tempo i have.