The Beatles · Beatles for Sale
What You’re Doing
What You’re Doing is in D major at 129.3 beats per minute.
Tempo
129 BPM · Allegromedian of 166 analyses · 128.7–129.5 across the middle eight tenths- Key
- D major2 sharps · the key most of the analyses agreed on
- Agreement
- 57%share of analyses that agreed
- Analyses
- 166people who ran the extractor
- One beat
- 464milliseconds, 60,000 ÷ BPM
- Tuning
- 440Hz · 0 cents from A 440
- Dynamics
- 4.3dB the level wanders from its average
- Loudness
- 0.942Essentia's 0–1 scale, not dB
- Danceability
- 1.16Essentia'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
166 independent analyses of this recording were submitted to AcousticBrainz. A bare majority of them — 57% — put it in D major, a key signature of 2 sharps. The tempo printed above is the median of the 166 readings; 96% of them land within 2% of it, and they barely differ at all.
At 129.3 BPM one beat lasts 464 milliseconds, so a sixteenth note is 116 ms and a dotted eighth 348 ms — the delay times for this recording. Counted half as fast it is 64.7 BPM, counted twice as fast 258.6. A score would mark that Allegro, by the ranges this site uses.
The analyses put the reference pitch of the recording at 440 Hz, which is 0 cents above concert A at 440 Hz — close enough to standard that a tuner would not argue. That is a fact about this transfer of the music, not about how it was played.
The dynamic complexity of the recording measures 4.3 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 0.942 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 D 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 D major
Each of these differs from D 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 129 BPM
| Note value | Beats | Milliseconds | Hertz |
|---|---|---|---|
| Whole note | 4 | 1856.1 | 0.54 |
| Half note | 2 | 928.1 | 1.08 |
| Dotted quarter | 1.5 | 696.1 | 1.44 |
| Quarter note (one beat) | 1 | 464 | 2.16 |
| Quarter triplet | 0.667 | 309.4 | 3.23 |
| Dotted eighth | 0.75 | 348 | 2.87 |
| Eighth note | 0.5 | 232 | 4.31 |
| Eighth triplet | 0.333 | 154.7 | 6.47 |
| Dotted sixteenth | 0.375 | 174 | 5.75 |
| Sixteenth note | 0.25 | 116 | 8.62 |
| Sixteenth triplet | 0.167 | 77.3 | 12.93 |
| Thirty-second note | 0.125 | 58 | 17.24 |
Half time 64.7 BPM · double time 258.6 BPM. Every row is one beat (464 ms) times the fraction in the second column.
Closest in key and tempo
- The Narrow Way, Part 3David GilmourD major129BPM
- Maggie MayRod StewartD major129BPM
- Jimmy JazzThe ClashD major129BPM
- Flick of the SwitchAC/DCD major129BPM
- Happy JackThe WhoD major130BPM
- I Know but I Don’t KnowBlondieD major130BPM
- Walking in MemphisCherD major129BPM
- For You BlueThe BeatlesD major129BPM
- HeadwiresFoo FightersD major130BPM
- Yeah 3×Chris BrownD major130BPM
Recordings in D major, ordered by how near their tempo is to 129 BPM. A calculation, not a recommendation.
All songs in D majorAll songs at 129 BPMD major at 120–129 BPMThe Beatles
MusicBrainz collapses 26 recording ids into this one. Recording id 1e99e493-d3e6-40e9-91d7-7644224b4890.