TempoPeek

Roberta Flack · Killing Me Softly

Killing Me Softly With His Song

Killing Me Softly With His Song is in F minor at 122.8 beats per minute.

4080120160200

Tempo

123 BPM · Allegromedian of 239 analyses · 120.8–122.9 across the middle eight tenths
Key
F minor4 flats · the key most of the analyses agreed on
Agreement
95%share of analyses that agreed
Analyses
239people who ran the extractor
One beat
488.6milliseconds, 60,000 ÷ BPM
Tuning
434.2Hz · -23 cents from A 440
Dynamics
4.96dB the level wanders from its average
Loudness
0.456Essentia's 0–1 scale, not dB
Danceability
1.015Essentia'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

239 independent analyses of this recording were submitted to AcousticBrainz. Most of them — 95% — put it in F minor, a key signature of 4 flats. The tempo printed above is the median of the 239 readings; 98% of them land within 2% of it, and the middle eight tenths of them run from 120.8 to 122.9 BPM.

At 122.8 BPM one beat lasts 488.6 milliseconds, so a sixteenth note is 122.1 ms and a dotted eighth 366.4 ms — the delay times for this recording. Counted half as fast it is 61.4 BPM, counted twice as fast 245.6. 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 4.96 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 0.456 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 F 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 F minor

Each of these differs from F 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 123 BPM

Note valueBeatsMillisecondsHertz
Whole note41954.40.51
Half note2977.21.02
Dotted quarter1.5732.91.36
Quarter note (one beat)1488.62.05
Quarter triplet0.667325.73.07
Dotted eighth0.75366.42.73
Eighth note0.5244.34.09
Eighth triplet0.333162.96.14
Dotted sixteenth0.375183.25.46
Sixteenth note0.25122.18.19
Sixteenth triplet0.16781.412.28
Thirty-second note0.12561.116.37

Half time 61.4 BPM · double time 245.6 BPM. Every row is one beat (488.6 ms) times the fraction in the second column.

Closest in key and tempo

  1. The Power of LoveFrankie Goes to HollywoodF minor123BPM
  2. Undercover of the NightThe Rolling StonesF minor123BPM
  3. More Than You KnowAxwell Λ IngrossoF minor123BPM
  4. FunkytownLipps, Inc.F minor123BPM
  5. They Won’t Go When I GoGeorge MichaelF minor123BPM
  6. Everything in Its Right PlaceRadioheadF minor124BPM
  7. DoublebackZZ TopF minor124BPM
  8. Give It UpZZ TopF minor124BPM
  9. 4 My PeopleMissy Elliott featuring EveF minor121BPM
  10. I Couldn’t Be More in LoveThe 1975F minor121BPM

Recordings in F minor, ordered by how near their tempo is to 123 BPM. A calculation, not a recommendation.

All songs in F minorAll songs at 123 BPMF minor at 120–129 BPM

MusicBrainz collapses 27 recording ids into this one. Recording id a6622f2d-3f1c-4512-9e9f-44ba184d112b.