The Velvet Underground & Nico · Blood Ties
Heroin
Heroin is in C major at 154.4 beats per minute.
Tempo
154 BPM · Allegromedian of 140 analyses · 143–184.6 across the middle eight tenths- Key
- C majorno sharps and no flats · the key most of the analyses agreed on
- Agreement
- 51%share of analyses that agreed
- Analyses
- 140people who ran the extractor
- One beat
- 388.6milliseconds, 60,000 ÷ BPM
- Tuning
- 440.8Hz · +3 cents from A 440
- Dynamics
- 4.17dB the level wanders from its average
- Loudness
- 0.672Essentia's 0–1 scale, not dB
- Danceability
- 1.024Essentia'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
140 independent analyses of this recording were submitted to AcousticBrainz. A bare majority of them — 51% — put it in C major, a key signature of no sharps and no flats. The tempo printed above is the median of the 140 readings; 6% of them land within 2% of it, and the middle eight tenths of them run from 143 to 184.6 BPM. That is a recording the detector cannot settle on — the readings are spread far enough that the median is a summary of a disagreement rather than a measurement anybody should trust to the decimal.
At 154.4 BPM one beat lasts 388.6 milliseconds, so a sixteenth note is 97.2 ms and a dotted eighth 291.5 ms — the delay times for this recording. Counted half as fast it is 77.2 BPM, counted twice as fast 308.8. A score would mark that Allegro, by the ranges this site uses.
The analyses put the reference pitch of the recording at 440.8 Hz, which is 3 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 4.17 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 0.672 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 154 BPM
| Note value | Beats | Milliseconds | Hertz |
|---|---|---|---|
| Whole note | 4 | 1554.4 | 0.64 |
| Half note | 2 | 777.2 | 1.29 |
| Dotted quarter | 1.5 | 582.9 | 1.72 |
| Quarter note (one beat) | 1 | 388.6 | 2.57 |
| Quarter triplet | 0.667 | 259.1 | 3.86 |
| Dotted eighth | 0.75 | 291.5 | 3.43 |
| Eighth note | 0.5 | 194.3 | 5.15 |
| Eighth triplet | 0.333 | 129.5 | 7.72 |
| Dotted sixteenth | 0.375 | 145.7 | 6.86 |
| Sixteenth note | 0.25 | 97.2 | 10.29 |
| Sixteenth triplet | 0.167 | 64.8 | 15.44 |
| Thirty-second note | 0.125 | 48.6 | 20.59 |
Half time 77.2 BPM · double time 308.8 BPM. Every row is one beat (388.6 ms) times the fraction in the second column.
The same title by somebody else
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
- Rock ’n’ Roll With MeDavid BowieC major154BPM
- The Nearness of YouNorah JonesC major154BPM
- Santa Claus Is Coming to TownThe CrystalsC major155BPM
- Let There Be More LightPink FloydC major155BPM
- Hard Knock Life (Ghetto Anthem)Jay‐ZC major154BPM
- So LonelyThe PoliceC major155BPM
- SongbirdEva CassidyC major154BPM
- Bringin’ On the HeartbreakDef LeppardC major155BPM
- ChangeLana Del ReyC major155BPM
- Walk – Don’t RunThe VenturesC major155BPM
Recordings in C major, ordered by how near their tempo is to 154 BPM. A calculation, not a recommendation.
All songs in C majorAll songs at 154 BPMC major at 150–159 BPMThe Velvet Underground & Nico
MusicBrainz collapses 3 recording ids into this one. Recording id 78646e0f-2abb-4266-976a-787c53ed99f1.