Beck · Sea Change
Paper Tiger
Paper Tiger is in A minor at 143.5 beats per minute.
Tempo
144 BPM · Allegromedian of 142 analyses · 143.4–143.6 across the middle eight tenths- Key
- A minorno sharps and no flats · the key most of the analyses agreed on
- Agreement
- 99%share of analyses that agreed
- Analyses
- 142people who ran the extractor
- One beat
- 418.1milliseconds, 60,000 ÷ BPM
- Tuning
- 434.2Hz · -23 cents from A 440
- Dynamics
- 4.56dB the level wanders from its average
- Loudness
- 0.759Essentia's 0–1 scale, not dB
- Danceability
- 1.038Essentia'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
142 independent analyses of this recording were submitted to AcousticBrainz. All but a handful of them — 99% — put it in A minor, a key signature of no sharps and no flats. The tempo printed above is the median of the 142 readings; 99% of them land within 2% of it, and they barely differ at all.
At 143.5 BPM one beat lasts 418.1 milliseconds, so a sixteenth note is 104.5 ms and a dotted eighth 313.6 ms — the delay times for this recording. Counted half as fast it is 71.8 BPM, counted twice as fast 287. A score would mark that Allegro, by the ranges this site uses.
The analyses put the reference pitch of the recording at 434.2 Hz, which is 23 cents below 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 4.56 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 0.759 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 A 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 A minor
Each of these differs from A 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 144 BPM
| Note value | Beats | Milliseconds | Hertz |
|---|---|---|---|
| Whole note | 4 | 1672.5 | 0.6 |
| Half note | 2 | 836.2 | 1.2 |
| Dotted quarter | 1.5 | 627.2 | 1.59 |
| Quarter note (one beat) | 1 | 418.1 | 2.39 |
| Quarter triplet | 0.667 | 278.7 | 3.59 |
| Dotted eighth | 0.75 | 313.6 | 3.19 |
| Eighth note | 0.5 | 209.1 | 4.78 |
| Eighth triplet | 0.333 | 139.4 | 7.18 |
| Dotted sixteenth | 0.375 | 156.8 | 6.38 |
| Sixteenth note | 0.25 | 104.5 | 9.57 |
| Sixteenth triplet | 0.167 | 69.7 | 14.35 |
| Thirty-second note | 0.125 | 52.3 | 19.13 |
Half time 71.8 BPM · double time 287 BPM. Every row is one beat (418.1 ms) times the fraction in the second column.
Closest in key and tempo
- Suffragette CityDavid BowieA minor144BPM
- Put Your Lights OnSantana featuring EverlastA minor144BPM
- Susie QDale HawkinsA minor144BPM
- High FidelityElvis Costello & The AttractionsA minor144BPM
- Dachau BluesCaptain Beefheart & His Magic BandA minor143BPM
- Trouble No MoreThe Allman Brothers BandA minor143BPM
- Turn Your Lights Down LowBob Marley & The WailersA minor143BPM
- Morning BellRadioheadA minor142BPM
- [White Blur 1]Aphex TwinA minor142BPM
- Can’t Hold UsMacklemore & Ryan Lewis feat. Ray DaltonA minor146BPM
Recordings in A minor, ordered by how near their tempo is to 144 BPM. A calculation, not a recommendation.
All songs in A minorAll songs at 144 BPMA minor at 140–149 BPMBeck
MusicBrainz collapses 5 recording ids into this one. Recording id 2bf8f547-057d-4be0-82ef-f19a2e3ac402.