Red Hot Chili Peppers · Californication
Parallel Universe
Parallel Universe is in C minor at 126 beats per minute.
Tempo
126 BPM · Allegromedian of 211 analyses · 124.4–128.8 across the middle eight tenths- Key
- C minor3 flats · the key most of the analyses agreed on
- Agreement
- 95%share of analyses that agreed
- Analyses
- 211people who ran the extractor
- One beat
- 476.2milliseconds, 60,000 ÷ BPM
- Tuning
- 434.2Hz · -23 cents from A 440
- Dynamics
- 3.02dB the level wanders from its average
- Loudness
- 0.941Essentia's 0–1 scale, not dB
- Danceability
- 1.066Essentia'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
211 independent analyses of this recording were submitted to AcousticBrainz. All but a handful of them — 95% — put it in C minor, a key signature of 3 flats. The tempo printed above is the median of the 211 readings; 65% of them land within 2% of it, and the middle eight tenths of them run from 124.4 to 128.8 BPM.
At 126 BPM one beat lasts 476.2 milliseconds, so a sixteenth note is 119 ms and a dotted eighth 357.1 ms — the delay times for this recording. Counted half as fast it is 63 BPM, counted twice as fast 252. 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 3.02 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 0.941 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 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 C minor
Each of these differs from C 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 126 BPM
| Note value | Beats | Milliseconds | Hertz |
|---|---|---|---|
| Whole note | 4 | 1904.8 | 0.53 |
| Half note | 2 | 952.4 | 1.05 |
| Dotted quarter | 1.5 | 714.3 | 1.4 |
| Quarter note (one beat) | 1 | 476.2 | 2.1 |
| Quarter triplet | 0.667 | 317.5 | 3.15 |
| Dotted eighth | 0.75 | 357.1 | 2.8 |
| Eighth note | 0.5 | 238.1 | 4.2 |
| Eighth triplet | 0.333 | 158.7 | 6.3 |
| Dotted sixteenth | 0.375 | 178.6 | 5.6 |
| Sixteenth note | 0.25 | 119 | 8.4 |
| Sixteenth triplet | 0.167 | 79.4 | 12.6 |
| Thirty-second note | 0.125 | 59.5 | 16.8 |
Half time 63 BPM · double time 252 BPM. Every row is one beat (476.2 ms) times the fraction in the second column.
Closest in key and tempo
- Sweet Dreams (Are Made of This)EurythmicsC minor126BPM
- Uhh AhhBoyz II MenC minor126BPM
- A Piece of MonologueScannerC minor126BPM
- A Girl Like YouEdwyn CollinsC minor126BPM
- After MidnightEric ClaptonC minor126BPM
- Sink the PinkAC/DCC minor125BPM
- It’s a SinPet Shop BoysC minor127BPM
- Birth of a HeroThomas BergersenC minor125BPM
- Phoenix (Basement Jaxx remix)Daft PunkC minor125BPM
- SuavementeElvis CrespoC minor124BPM
Recordings in C minor, ordered by how near their tempo is to 126 BPM. A calculation, not a recommendation.
All songs in C minorAll songs at 126 BPMC minor at 120–129 BPMRed Hot Chili Peppers
MusicBrainz collapses 27 recording ids into this one. Recording id d8c79588-fcbb-46c3-8838-85b212475bb2.