Selecting a New Project Tempo

[wroe55]

Hi All

When starting a new project, how do you select which tempo (BPM)to use for the overall project.

Do you guess from the range of BPMs for the type of song e.g. Dance 120 to 140 or get the BPM for a similar song.

Or do you create a click track and use a BPM analyser to work out the BPM?

Dave

[Richie Witch]

I usually pick a tempo that is typical for the genre I'm working with, then when the project is well under way, I will drag my mouse up and down on the tempo display in Live to see how the song sounds a little faster and a little slower. It can be surprising how much even a few beats per second will change the overall character of a project.

Right now, 121 bpm and 127 bpm are my favorite starting choices for electronica, or down around 70 bpm for piano and orchestral stuff.

[wroe55]

Thanks Richie some very good advice, particularly the speeding up and slowing down of the project to see what sounds right.

Because of Ableton's warping effect you can get any tempo to sound right by just speeding up or slowing down your MIDI and Audio clips lol

I have found MixMeister BPM to be a very useful tool

Dave

[Idonotlikebroccoli]

I often get a very simple beat or melody in my head, and have the "|" key mapped to the "tap" button next to the BPM. Then I either do fine adjustments, or try what it sounds like at a very different tempo.

Or I'll be looping small sections of existing pieces of music, and then building upon that with the original track's tempo.