Jeff Beck · Emotion & Commotion

Big Block

Big Block is in A minor at 117 beats per minute.

4080120160200

Tempo

117 BPM · Moderatomedian of 169 analyses · 80.7–129.3 across the middle eight tenths
Key
A minorno sharps and no flats · the key most of the analyses agreed on
Agreement
60%share of analyses that agreed
Analyses
169people who ran the extractor
One beat
512.8milliseconds, 60,000 ÷ BPM
Tuning
434.2Hz · -23 cents from A 440
Dynamics
3.1dB the level wanders from its average
Loudness
0.886Essentia's 0–1 scale, not dB
Danceability
1.089Essentia'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

169 independent analyses of this recording were submitted to AcousticBrainz. A bare majority of them — 60% — put it in A minor, a key signature of no sharps and no flats. The tempo printed above is the median of the 169 readings; 17% of them land within 2% of it, and the middle eight tenths of them run from 80.7 to 129.3 BPM. That is a recording the detector cannot settle on — the readings are spread far enough that the median is a summary of a disagreement rather than a measurement anybody should trust to the decimal.

At 117 BPM one beat lasts 512.8 milliseconds, so a sixteenth note is 128.2 ms and a dotted eighth 384.6 ms — the delay times for this recording. Counted half as fast it is 58.5 BPM, counted twice as fast 234. A score would mark that Moderato, 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 3.1 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 0.886 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 117 BPM

Note valueBeatsMillisecondsHertz
Whole note42051.30.49
Half note21025.60.98
Dotted quarter1.5769.21.3
Quarter note (one beat)1512.81.95
Quarter triplet0.667341.92.93
Dotted eighth0.75384.62.6
Eighth note0.5256.43.9
Eighth triplet0.333170.95.85
Dotted sixteenth0.375192.35.2
Sixteenth note0.25128.27.8
Sixteenth triplet0.16785.511.7
Thirty-second note0.12564.115.6

Half time 58.5 BPM · double time 234 BPM. Every row is one beat (512.8 ms) times the fraction in the second column.

Closest in key and tempo

  1. Seven DevilsFlorence + the MachineA minor117BPM
  2. Prayers for RainThe CureA minor117BPM
  3. SiftingNirvanaA minor117BPM
  4. Hunting High and Lowa‐haA minor117BPM
  5. Get Outta My Dreams, Get Into My CarBilly OceanA minor117BPM
  6. She Way OutThe 1975A minor117BPM
  7. Hunting High and Low (remix)a‐haA minor117BPM
  8. She’s Got BallsAC/DCA minor117BPM
  9. Green CalxAphex TwinA minor117BPM
  10. I Still DoThe CranberriesA minor118BPM

Recordings in A minor, ordered by how near their tempo is to 117 BPM. A calculation, not a recommendation.

All songs in A minorAll songs at 117 BPMA minor at 110–119 BPMJeff Beck

MusicBrainz collapses 22 recording ids into this one. Recording id 4e8477f0-56e6-4c5e-a558-f05603007861.