How to decide what bpm to use.

[scatterrat]

I always have trouble wraping my mind around how tempo can be useful, In being able to craft a song. I'm mean like for example I could set my song to any bpm and record the same song at different bpm and the only thing that is different is that the notes are farther/closer apart. You see what I mean what is the deciding factor of what bpm you are to use?
Do some effects react differently to different amounts of notes per bar or is it just a way to mathmatically make precise beats. I only use a midi keyboard for everything even for drums
Is it like for when you try to make a beat that you can't fit into a bar, you try to a just the tempo so that you can loop it seemlessly? How do you figure out what bpm will be correct to do that?

I was never very good at Math.

[John Vulich]

I always have trouble wraping my mind around how tempo can be useful, In being able to craft a song. I'm mean like for example I could set my song to any bpm and record the same song at different bpm and the only thing that is different is that the notes are farther/closer apart. You see what I mean what is the deciding factor of what bpm you are to use?
Do some effects react differently to different amounts of notes per bar or is it just a way to mathmatically make precise beats. I only use a midi keyboard for everything even for drums
Is it like for when you try to make a beat that you can't fit into a bar, you try to a just the tempo so that you can loop it seemlessly? How do you figure out what bpm will be correct to do that?

I was never very good at Math.

There is a very scientific and accurate formula that can be used, but if I told you, I'd have to kill you.

Wanna know what it is?

Anyway, I thought that you already declared that Tempo was deemed useless due to the capabilities of modern DAW/Sequencers, in the now infamous thread that you previously started (and then edited)...

http://www.kvraudio.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=161248

[Xnah]

...

[VitaminD]

uhhhh.. I think this may be down to how YOU perceive why/how things occur... if you have weird ideas of how things occur then yeah.. nothing anyone says to you is going to make any sense..

by 'beats' do you mean the 'preformed, sampled loops' variety by chance?

if so you can just set up a 16 note pattern (for instance).. fill it with the loop.. then playback and cycle the tempo until there are no gaps/jumps in the sound from when it ends to when it begins again. at least thats ONE way to do it..

otherwise.. uhhh... its just feeling.. 90s for breaky/drumy stuff, 130s to mid 140s for trance stuffs, upper 140s to 150s for other breaky/drumy stuff, 160s to 180s for drum 'n bassy stuffs... at least thats what I use.

but it doesnt really matter.. just use a tempo you like.. if it works, it works.. but maybe I dont understand what you're getting at though..

[John Vulich]

[John Vulich]

...

Oh, I guess you read his post more closley, after you responded... huh?

[John Vulich]

uhhhh.. I think this may be down to how YOU perceive why/how things occur... if you have weird ideas of how things occur then yeah.. nothing anyone says to you is going to make any sense..

by 'beats' do you mean the 'preformed, sampled loops' variety by chance?

if so you can just set up a 16 note pattern (for instance).. fill it with the loop.. then playback and cycle the tempo until there are no gaps/jumps in the sound from when it ends to when it begins again. at least thats ONE way to do it..

otherwise.. uhhh... its just feeling.. 90s for breaky/drumy stuff, 130s to mid 140s for trance stuffs, upper 140s to 150s for other breaky/drumy stuff, 160s to 180s for drum 'n bassy stuffs... at least thats what I use.

but it doesnt really matter.. just use a tempo you like.. if it works, it works.. but maybe I dont understand what you're getting at though..

Read his post again. He's not asking which tempos are used for different genres or moods. He doesn't get the use of tempo at all. I get the impression that he is just recording rubato material at random tempos with out regard for anything syncing up.

Maybe someone with a little more patience will come along and explain it to him.

[Xnah]

...

Oh, I guess you read his post more closley, after you responded... huh?

No. I read your post after I responded... I don't keep track of all the crap threads at kvraudio. And I usually trust your judgement .

Afterthought: Wasn't there a post about a BPM table page recently?

[John Vulich]

No. I read your post after I responded... I don't keep track of all the crap threads at kvraudio. And I usually trust your judgement .

Oh God no! Why would you want to do that for?

[CypherOne]

I decide how fast I want my track to be and then set the tempo accordingly. Revolutionary I know...

[John Vulich]

Ok, scatterrat, how are you recording your music? Do you input via a MIDI keyboard? And if so, do you play into the sequencer using any sort of click track while you record?

[1-2-Many]

I see our friend is back at it again.

[1-2-Many]

Scatterrat - Something about your approach is terribly off the tracks if you can't hear a difference when recording at different tempos.

Why don't you post up an audio snippet of one of your songs at two different Bpms and see if we can tell a difference.

[VitaminD]

uhhhh.. I think this may be down to how YOU perceive why/how things occur... if you have weird ideas of how things occur then yeah.. nothing anyone says to you is going to make any sense..

by 'beats' do you mean the 'preformed, sampled loops' variety by chance?

if so you can just set up a 16 note pattern (for instance).. fill it with the loop.. then playback and cycle the tempo until there are no gaps/jumps in the sound from when it ends to when it begins again. at least thats ONE way to do it..

otherwise.. uhhh... its just feeling.. 90s for breaky/drumy stuff, 130s to mid 140s for trance stuffs, upper 140s to 150s for other breaky/drumy stuff, 160s to 180s for drum 'n bassy stuffs... at least thats what I use.

but it doesnt really matter.. just use a tempo you like.. if it works, it works.. but maybe I dont understand what you're getting at though..

Read his post again. He's not asking which tempos are used for different genres or moods. He doesn't get the use of tempo at all. I get the impression that he is just recording rubato material at random tempos with out regard for anything syncing up.

Maybe someone with a little more patience will come along and explain it to him.

hmmmm.. indeed...

amatuer time here (especially since I stick in 4/4 ).. but I'll try..

your sequencer (and really most music especially western) uses a time signature for each song.. much of the music you hear on the radio and even here is in 4/4 ..consider this along with the tempo of the song the basis for all notes you play/record/hear in a song... its the foundation.

so for 4/4 this means there are [4 notes/beats per measure (first number)] / [with each note/beat lasting one forth of one note or a quarter note (second number)]

you cant just select a signature and a tempo arbitrarily and then start playing however you want.. it wont work.. try it. record yourself playing back at 140 bpm then record a new pattern at 110 bpm then finally combine the two patterns... you'll notice they dont sync - they're running at different times!!

that said.. with tempo you can typically double or halve the tempo, then half or double the notes in a pattern and they will keep the original tempo (as heard at least). BUT you cant just say.. select a tempo of 56 then increase it to 143 (56 * 2 = 112 which doesnt equal 143 and 143/2 = 71.5 which doesnt equal 56 BUT you could use 112 and then spread your notes out by 200% and it would sound the same as if it were playing back at 56 bpm originally)

google "time signature" and "tempo" I'm sure there are better (more versed/informative) resources out there somewhere...

[Sascha Franck]

For someone having spent the money on Logic, this seems like quite some awkward question, so I can only suspect some serious reasons being behind it.
A bit more of information however is absolutely required.