TempoPeek

Otis Redding · Otis Blue: Otis Redding Sings Soul

A Change Is Gonna Come

A Change Is Gonna Come is in A flat major at 164.2 beats per minute.

4080120160200

Tempo

164 BPM · Vivacemedian of 154 analyses · 164.1–164.6 across the middle eight tenths
Key
A♭ major4 flats · the key most of the analyses agreed on
Agreement
62%share of analyses that agreed
Analyses
154people who ran the extractor
One beat
365.4milliseconds, 60,000 ÷ BPM
Tuning
434.9Hz · -20 cents from A 440
Dynamics
5.47dB the level wanders from its average
Loudness
0.693Essentia's 0–1 scale, not dB
Danceability
1.09Essentia'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

154 independent analyses of this recording were submitted to AcousticBrainz. A bare majority of them — 62% — put it in A flat major, a key signature of 4 flats. The tempo printed above is the median of the 154 readings; 100% of them land within 2% of it, and they barely differ at all.

At 164.2 BPM one beat lasts 365.4 milliseconds, so a sixteenth note is 91.4 ms and a dotted eighth 274.1 ms — the delay times for this recording. Counted half as fast it is 82.1 BPM, counted twice as fast 328.4. A score would mark that Vivace, by the ranges this site uses.

The analyses put the reference pitch of the recording at 434.9 Hz, which is 20 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 5.47 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 0.693 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 flat 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 A♭ major

Each of these differs from A♭ 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 164 BPM

Note valueBeatsMillisecondsHertz
Whole note41461.60.68
Half note2730.81.37
Dotted quarter1.5548.11.82
Quarter note (one beat)1365.42.74
Quarter triplet0.667243.64.1
Dotted eighth0.75274.13.65
Eighth note0.5182.75.47
Eighth triplet0.333121.88.21
Dotted sixteenth0.3751377.3
Sixteenth note0.2591.410.95
Sixteenth triplet0.16760.916.42
Thirty-second note0.12545.721.89

Half time 82.1 BPM · double time 328.4 BPM. Every row is one beat (365.4 ms) times the fraction in the second column.

Closest in key and tempo

  1. The Boys Are Back in TownThin LizzyA♭ major163BPM
  2. Wasting My HateMetallicaA♭ major163BPM
  3. Nip It in the BudThe B‐52’sA♭ major163BPM
  4. You’ve Got a FriendCarole KingA♭ major166BPM
  5. Last ChildAerosmithA♭ major166BPM
  6. Boulevard of Broken DreamsGreen DayA♭ major166BPM
  7. If I Could Turn Back the Hands of TimeR. KellyA♭ major162BPM
  8. Digging in the DirtPeter GabrielA♭ major162BPM
  9. You LearnAlanis MorissetteA♭ major167BPM
  10. Slow and LowBeastie BoysA♭ major167BPM

Recordings in A flat major, ordered by how near their tempo is to 164 BPM. A calculation, not a recommendation.

All songs in A flat majorAll songs at 164 BPMA♭ major at 160–169 BPMOtis Redding

MusicBrainz collapses 17 recording ids into this one. Recording id b14c5f92-8bcf-4764-8021-f5aa4ab42268.