Simple question about the tonic

[Pericorp]

Hey guys I have a very simple question.
Look at this example of a chord progression it's Faxing Berlin by Deadmau5

http://www.hooktheory.com/analysis/view ... ing-berlin

Now if the tonic is determined by the chord that is played first then why does it say it's in D minor and not in G minor? In other words how did the author interpret this progression as a Dminor? How does he determine that the first chord played is the IV and not the I?

[JumpingJackFlash]

Now if the tonic is determined by the chord that is played first...

It isn't.

How does he determine that the first chord played is the IV and not the I?

Mainly because in this case, he thought that D sounds like "home" - the centre, the goal of the piece (so to speak) - that's essentially what the "tonic" is (it's also the first note of a key or a chord built on that note). Also because the notes of this piece (I assume) largely correspond to the notes of D minor.

[Nystul]

From what I can tell the first chord of piece and its main loop is in fact Dm. The analysis is basically OK but he has not correctly identified the start and end of the loop in my opinion. Probably thrown off by the two minutes of nothingness that DJs apparently need for something?

A piece of music does not have to start with a I chord, but it is very common. First 15 songs in my fake book start with a I chord, but there are exceptions where it starts somewhere else and works its way towards the tonic.

[Pericorp]

Thanks for clearing that up. And yeah Deadmau5's intros are obnoxiously long One minute of nothing but kick is kinda weird.

[MadBrain]

Is it just me or the Dm7 chords are actually Bb?