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Common fix · Audio

Find the key and BPM of a song

By Updated How we write these

2 min read

What you’ll end up with

The song’s key, its Camelot code and its tempo, checked by ear.

Singers need the key to know whether a song sits in their range; players need it to play along; DJs need key and tempo together to mix one track into the next. Working it out by ear takes practice. Working it out from the file takes seconds.

The key comes from which notes the song uses and how much; the tempo from the pattern of its beats. Both can be measured from the audio itself, so any MP3, WAV, M4A or FLAC you have will do.

What to do

  1. Analyze the song

    Drop the file into the finder and press Find key and BPM. You get the key, its Camelot code, the tempo with half- and double-time beside it, and a chart of how much of each note the song uses.

    Open the key and BPM finder

  2. Check it by ear

    Press Tap along in time with the beat: after a few taps it shows your tempo, which settles whether the song is at 70 or 140 BPM. For the key, hum the note the chorus ends on — it’s usually the key’s home note.

  3. Cut out the part you need

    For a long mix or a song that changes key, trim the section you care about and analyze that on its own.

    Trim the audio

Questions

Why does it say a major key or its relative minor?

Every major key shares all its notes with one minor key — C major with A minor, for example — and songs often move between the two. When both fit almost equally, both are shown; for DJs they mix perfectly (8B and 8A on the Camelot wheel).

Can I find the key of a song on YouTube or Spotify?

Not from a link, since streaming services don’t hand over the file. If you have the audio file, drop it in. Released songs are also listed with their key and tempo on song-database sites.

How do I change the key of a song?

That needs pitch shifting, which isn’t on this site yet. What you can do here is find the key, make a karaoke version or cut a section to practice with.

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