TempoPeek

Procol Harum · A Whiter Shade of Pale

A Whiter Shade of Pale

A Whiter Shade of Pale is in C major at 148.5 beats per minute.

4080120160200

Tempo

149 BPM · Allegromedian of 290 analyses · 148.1–148.9 across the middle eight tenths
Key
C majorno sharps and no flats · the key most of the analyses agreed on
Agreement
98%share of analyses that agreed
Analyses
290people who ran the extractor
One beat
404milliseconds, 60,000 ÷ BPM
Tuning
441.3Hz · +5 cents from A 440
Dynamics
2.56dB the level wanders from its average
Loudness
0.881Essentia's 0–1 scale, not dB
Danceability
1.136Essentia'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

290 independent analyses of this recording were submitted to AcousticBrainz. All but a handful of them — 98% — put it in C major, a key signature of no sharps and no flats. The tempo printed above is the median of the 290 readings; 100% of them land within 2% of it, and they barely differ at all.

At 148.5 BPM one beat lasts 404 milliseconds, so a sixteenth note is 101 ms and a dotted eighth 303 ms — the delay times for this recording. Counted half as fast it is 74.3 BPM, counted twice as fast 297. A score would mark that Allegro, 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 2.56 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 0.881 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 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 C major

Each of these differs from C 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 149 BPM

Note valueBeatsMillisecondsHertz
Whole note41616.20.62
Half note2808.11.24
Dotted quarter1.5606.11.65
Quarter note (one beat)14042.48
Quarter triplet0.667269.43.71
Dotted eighth0.753033.3
Eighth note0.52024.95
Eighth triplet0.333134.77.43
Dotted sixteenth0.375151.56.6
Sixteenth note0.251019.9
Sixteenth triplet0.16767.314.85
Thirty-second note0.12550.519.8

Half time 74.3 BPM · double time 297 BPM. Every row is one beat (404 ms) times the fraction in the second column.

The same title by somebody else

  1. A Whiter Shade of PaleAnnie LennoxC major146BPM

Matched on the title alone, so this list can hold a different song that happens to share a name. Nothing here claims one is a cover of the other.

Closest in key and tempo

  1. My Love, My LifeABBAC major149BPM
  2. Wrong ’Em BoyoThe ClashC major148BPM
  3. Lean On MeBill WithersC major148BPM
  4. Bye Bye JohnnyChuck BerryC major148BPM
  5. Be Good to YourselfJourneyC major149BPM
  6. Fat Old SunPink FloydC major148BPM
  7. All the Small Thingsblink‐182C major148BPM
  8. My SharonaThe KnackC major148BPM
  9. Can’t Stop Rockin’ZZ TopC major149BPM
  10. Unsuspecting Sunday AfternoonBackstreet BoysC major148BPM

Recordings in C major, ordered by how near their tempo is to 149 BPM. A calculation, not a recommendation.

All songs in C majorAll songs at 149 BPMC major at 140–149 BPM

MusicBrainz collapses 111 recording ids into this one. Recording id 57d17884-4645-43b4-bd55-f2b8717e12b5.