Beastie Boys · Licensed to Ill

Slow Ride

Slow Ride is in C minor at 96.7 beats per minute.

4080120160200

Tempo

97 BPM · Andantemedian of 163 analyses · 96.7–96.8 across the middle eight tenths
Key
C minor3 flats · the key most of the analyses agreed on
Agreement
77%share of analyses that agreed
Analyses
163people who ran the extractor
One beat
620.5milliseconds, 60,000 ÷ BPM
Tuning
449Hz · +35 cents from A 440
Dynamics
4.13dB the level wanders from its average
Loudness
0.844Essentia's 0–1 scale, not dB
Danceability
1.222Essentia'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

163 independent analyses of this recording were submitted to AcousticBrainz. Most of them — 77% — put it in C minor, a key signature of 3 flats. The tempo printed above is the median of the 163 readings; 100% of them land within 2% of it, and they barely differ at all.

At 96.7 BPM one beat lasts 620.5 milliseconds, so a sixteenth note is 155.1 ms and a dotted eighth 465.4 ms — the delay times for this recording. Counted half as fast it is 48.4 BPM, counted twice as fast 193.4. A score would mark that Andante, by the ranges this site uses.

The analyses put the reference pitch of the recording at 449 Hz, which is 35 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 4.13 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 0.844 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 C 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 C minor

Each of these differs from C 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 97 BPM

Note valueBeatsMillisecondsHertz
Whole note42481.90.4
Half note212410.81
Dotted quarter1.5930.71.07
Quarter note (one beat)1620.51.61
Quarter triplet0.667413.72.42
Dotted eighth0.75465.42.15
Eighth note0.5310.23.22
Eighth triplet0.333206.84.84
Dotted sixteenth0.375232.74.3
Sixteenth note0.25155.16.45
Sixteenth triplet0.167103.49.67
Thirty-second note0.12577.612.89

Half time 48.4 BPM · double time 193.4 BPM. Every row is one beat (620.5 ms) times the fraction in the second column.

Closest in key and tempo

  1. GirlThe BeatlesC minor97BPM
  2. My Iron LungRadioheadC minor97BPM
  3. Mr. SymsJohn ColtraneC minor96BPM
  4. Time to Get IllBeastie BoysC minor98BPM
  5. SummertimeDJ Jazzy Jeff & the Fresh PrinceC minor95BPM
  6. QueerGarbageC minor95BPM
  7. FancyIggy Azalea feat. Charli XCXC minor95BPM
  8. Spanish Castle MagicThe Jimi Hendrix ExperienceC minor98BPM
  9. Do for Love2Pac featuring Eric Williams of BLACKstreetC minor95BPM
  10. Bésame muchoAndrea BocelliC minor95BPM

Recordings in C minor, ordered by how near their tempo is to 97 BPM. A calculation, not a recommendation.

All songs in C minorAll songs at 97 BPMC minor at 90–99 BPMBeastie Boys

MusicBrainz collapses 1 recording id into this one. Recording id c8a092d3-9716-4c56-a93d-4b83c97e890d.