David Bowie · Tonight
Absolute Beginners
Absolute Beginners is in D major at 114.1 beats per minute.
Tempo
114 BPM · Moderatomedian of 159 analyses · 114.1–114.2 across the middle eight tenths- Key
- D major2 sharps · the key most of the analyses agreed on
- Agreement
- 95%share of analyses that agreed
- Analyses
- 159people who ran the extractor
- One beat
- 525.9milliseconds, 60,000 ÷ BPM
- Tuning
- 441.3Hz · +5 cents from A 440
- Dynamics
- 4.07dB the level wanders from its average
- Loudness
- 0.511Essentia's 0–1 scale, not dB
- Danceability
- 1.053Essentia'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
159 independent analyses of this recording were submitted to AcousticBrainz. All but a handful of them — 95% — put it in D major, a key signature of 2 sharps. The tempo printed above is the median of the 159 readings; 99% of them land within 2% of it, and they barely differ at all.
At 114.1 BPM one beat lasts 525.9 milliseconds, so a sixteenth note is 131.5 ms and a dotted eighth 394.4 ms — the delay times for this recording. Counted half as fast it is 57.1 BPM, counted twice as fast 228.2. A score would mark that Moderato, by the ranges this site uses.
The analyses put the reference pitch of the recording at 441.3 Hz, which is 5 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 4.07 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 0.511 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 D major; 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 D major
Each of these differs from D major 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 114 BPM
| Note value | Beats | Milliseconds | Hertz |
|---|---|---|---|
| Whole note | 4 | 2103.4 | 0.48 |
| Half note | 2 | 1051.7 | 0.95 |
| Dotted quarter | 1.5 | 788.8 | 1.27 |
| Quarter note (one beat) | 1 | 525.9 | 1.9 |
| Quarter triplet | 0.667 | 350.6 | 2.85 |
| Dotted eighth | 0.75 | 394.4 | 2.54 |
| Eighth note | 0.5 | 262.9 | 3.8 |
| Eighth triplet | 0.333 | 175.3 | 5.71 |
| Dotted sixteenth | 0.375 | 197.2 | 5.07 |
| Sixteenth note | 0.25 | 131.5 | 7.61 |
| Sixteenth triplet | 0.167 | 87.6 | 11.41 |
| Thirty-second note | 0.125 | 65.7 | 15.21 |
Half time 57.1 BPM · double time 228.2 BPM. Every row is one beat (525.9 ms) times the fraction in the second column.
Closest in key and tempo
- Moonlight DriveThe DoorsD major114BPM
- PerfectThe Smashing PumpkinsD major114BPM
- Under PressureQueenD major114BPM
- You Get What You GiveNew RadicalsD major114BPM
- American GirlTom Petty and the HeartbreakersD major114BPM
- Doolin‐Dalton / Desperado (reprise)EaglesD major114BPM
- Dance, DanceFall Out BoyD major114BPM
- Cold Cold HeartNorah JonesD major114BPM
- War ChildThe CranberriesD major115BPM
- Island in the SunWeezerD major115BPM
Recordings in D major, ordered by how near their tempo is to 114 BPM. A calculation, not a recommendation.
All songs in D majorAll songs at 114 BPMD major at 110–119 BPMDavid Bowie
MusicBrainz collapses 46 recording ids into this one. Recording id 19b6bab0-d140-4ff3-9237-1b6cf86e1e90.