TempoPeek

The Rolling Stones · Aftermath

Paint It Black

Paint It Black is in E minor at 156.3 beats per minute.

4080120160200

Tempo

156 BPM · Vivacemedian of 234 analyses · 156.2–161.6 across the middle eight tenths
Key
E minor1 sharp · the key most of the analyses agreed on
Agreement
77%share of analyses that agreed
Analyses
234people who ran the extractor
One beat
383.9milliseconds, 60,000 ÷ BPM
Tuning
453.7Hz · +53 cents from A 440
Dynamics
3.15dB the level wanders from its average
Loudness
0.829Essentia's 0–1 scale, not dB
Danceability
1.158Essentia'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

234 independent analyses of this recording were submitted to AcousticBrainz. Most of them — 77% — put it in E minor, a key signature of 1 sharp. The tempo printed above is the median of the 234 readings; 59% of them land within 2% of it, and the middle eight tenths of them run from 156.2 to 161.6 BPM.

At 156.3 BPM one beat lasts 383.9 milliseconds, so a sixteenth note is 96 ms and a dotted eighth 287.9 ms — the delay times for this recording. Counted half as fast it is 78.2 BPM, counted twice as fast 312.6. A score would mark that Vivace, by the ranges this site uses.

The analyses put the reference pitch of the recording at 453.7 Hz, which is 53 cents above concert A at 440 Hz — far enough that playing along at 440 Hz will sound wrong. That is a fact about this transfer of the music, not about how it was played.

The dynamic complexity of the recording measures 3.15 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 0.829 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 E 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 E minor

Each of these differs from E 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 156 BPM

Note valueBeatsMillisecondsHertz
Whole note41535.50.65
Half note2767.81.3
Dotted quarter1.5575.81.74
Quarter note (one beat)1383.92.61
Quarter triplet0.667255.93.91
Dotted eighth0.75287.93.47
Eighth note0.5191.95.21
Eighth triplet0.3331287.82
Dotted sixteenth0.3751446.95
Sixteenth note0.259610.42
Sixteenth triplet0.1676415.63
Thirty-second note0.1254820.84

Half time 78.2 BPM · double time 312.6 BPM. Every row is one beat (383.9 ms) times the fraction in the second column.

Closest in key and tempo

  1. UnderstandChristina AguileraE minor156BPM
  2. Climbing Up the WallsRadioheadE minor155BPM
  3. I Wanna LiveRamonesE minor155BPM
  4. EffigyCreedence Clearwater RevivalE minor154BPM
  5. WomenForeignerE minor154BPM
  6. Private InvestigationsDire StraitsE minor153BPM
  7. The Better Life3 Doors DownE minor153BPM
  8. Shake a LegAC/DCE minor153BPM
  9. The TrialPink FloydE minor152BPM
  10. StopPink FloydE minor151BPM

Recordings in E minor, ordered by how near their tempo is to 156 BPM. A calculation, not a recommendation.

All songs in E minorAll songs at 156 BPME minor at 150–159 BPMThe Rolling Stones

MusicBrainz collapses 306 recording ids into this one. Recording id c6ddba3b-a1a4-40a5-b686-b040ba536f24.