118 BPM
118 beats per minute is one beat every 508.47 ms. Below: bar and phrase lengths, delay and reverb times, LFO rates, the genres that use this tempo, and the pitch change needed to mix in from nearby tempos. Start the metronome or tap along to a track to check it is really 118.
Updated 2026-10-17
118 BPM
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Beat, bar and phrase lengths at 118 BPM
At 118 BPM one beat lasts 508.47 ms and a 4/4 bar lasts 2.034 s. The beat is not a whole number of milliseconds, so round to the nearest 0.1 ms when you type times in by hand, or use your plugin's tempo sync. That is 1.967 beats per second, or 29.5 bars of 4/4 per minute.
Dance tracks are usually arranged in 8-, 16- and 32-bar phrases. At 118 BPM a 16-bar phrase takes 32.54 s and a 32-bar intro or outro takes 1:05.1 min. That is 0.54 s longer than the same 16 bars at 120 BPM. A six-minute track at this tempo contains about 177 bars.
| Length | Time | Milliseconds |
|---|---|---|
| 1 beat | 0.508 s | 508.47 ms |
| 1 bar (4 beats) | 2.034 s | 2033.9 ms |
| 4 bars | 8.136 s | 8135.59 ms |
| 8 bars | 16.27 s | 16271.19 ms |
| 16 bars | 32.54 s | 32542.37 ms |
| 32 bars | 1:05.1 min | 65084.75 ms |
| 64 bars | 2:10.2 min | 130169.49 ms |
Delay times at 118 BPM
Straight values follow the beat; dotted values are 1.5 times as long and triplets are two-thirds as long. At 118 BPM the popular dotted-eighth delay is 381.36 ms and a quarter-note slapback is 508.47 ms. The Hz column is the matching rate for an LFO, tremolo or auto-pan synced to the straight note.
| Note | Straight | Dotted | Triplet | Rate (straight) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1/1 (one 4/4 bar) | 2033.9 ms | 3050.85 ms | 1355.93 ms | 0.492 Hz |
| 1/2 | 1016.95 ms | 1525.42 ms | 677.97 ms | 0.983 Hz |
| 1/4 (one beat) | 508.47 ms | 762.71 ms | 338.98 ms | 1.967 Hz |
| 1/8 | 254.24 ms | 381.36 ms | 169.49 ms | 3.933 Hz |
| 1/16 | 127.12 ms | 190.68 ms | 84.75 ms | 7.867 Hz |
| 1/32 | 63.56 ms | 95.34 ms | 42.37 ms | 15.733 Hz |
Reverb times at 118 BPM
A common way to keep a reverb in time is to tie its pre-delay to a short note value and let the tail fade within a longer one. At 118 BPM a 1/64-note pre-delay is 31.78 ms and a 1/32-note pre-delay is 63.56 ms.
The decay control on most reverbs is RT60, the time it takes the tail to fall by 60 dB, so the audible tail ends earlier than the number shown. Treat these values as starting points and adjust by ear.
| Reverb character | Pre-delay | Decay (RT60) |
|---|---|---|
| Tight room on drums | 31.78 ms | 508.47 ms |
| Medium plate on vocals | 63.56 ms | 1016.95 ms |
| Large hall or pad wash | 63.56 ms | 2033.9 ms |
| Ambient tail over two bars | 127.12 ms | 4067.8 ms |
Genres at 118 BPM
118 BPM is squarely in the most common club and dance-music range. It sits in the middle of the pop range (90–130), in the middle of the disco range (105–130) and at the bottom of the house range (118–130).
These ranges are common practice rather than rules: genre is decided by rhythm, sound and scene as much as by tempo, and plenty of tracks sit outside the usual numbers.
- Pop: typically 90–130 BPM — a wide band; the genre is defined by songwriting, not tempo.
- Disco: typically 105–130 BPM — steady four-on-the-floor sections are easy to count.
- House: typically 118–130 BPM — most club house clusters around 120–128.
Mixing into 118 BPM
To bring a track at another tempo up or down to 118 BPM, move its pitch fader by the percentage below. Without key lock the key moves too, by the number of semitones shown; about 6 % is one semitone, so changes beyond that are where key lock (master tempo) starts to matter.
A ±8 % pitch fader on a track at 118 BPM reaches 108.6–127.4 BPM; a ±16 % range reaches 99.1–136.9 BPM.
| Track tempo | Pitch change to reach 118 | Key shift without key lock |
|---|---|---|
| 112 BPM | +5.36 % | +0.9 st |
| 114 BPM | +3.51 % | +0.6 st |
| 116 BPM | +1.72 % | +0.3 st |
| 117 BPM | +0.85 % | +0.15 st |
| 119 BPM | −0.84 % | −0.15 st |
| 120 BPM | −1.67 % | −0.29 st |
| 122 BPM | −3.28 % | −0.58 st |
| 124 BPM | −4.84 % | −0.86 st |
Half-time, double-time and nearby tempos
Half-time of 118 BPM is 59 BPM and double-time is 236 BPM.
59 BPM and 236 BPM are outside the 60–200 range of these pages; the half/double-time converter works with any value.
Each 1 BPM step at this tempo changes the beat by about 4.27 ms, so neighbouring tempos are close enough to beatmatch with a small pitch move.
Frequently asked questions
- How many milliseconds is one beat at 118 BPM?
- One beat (a quarter note) at 118 BPM is 60,000 ÷ 118 = 508.47 ms. A 4/4 bar is four beats, 2033.9 ms.
- What is the dotted eighth delay time at 118 BPM?
- A dotted 1/8 delay at 118 BPM is 381.36 ms: an eighth note (254.24 ms) multiplied by 1.5. A straight quarter-note delay is 508.47 ms and a quarter-note triplet is 338.98 ms.
- What genre is 118 BPM?
- Pop, disco and house commonly use 118 BPM. Genre ranges overlap, so the drum pattern and sound decide the style more than the number does.
- What is 118 BPM in Hz?
- 118 BPM is 1.9667 Hz when one cycle equals one beat. An LFO synced to one bar runs at 0.4917 Hz, and one synced to sixteenth notes at 7.867 Hz.