60 BPM
60 beats per minute is one beat every 1000 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 60.
Updated 2026-10-17
60 BPM
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Beat, bar and phrase lengths at 60 BPM
At 60 BPM one beat lasts 1000 ms and a 4/4 bar lasts 4 s. That beat is a whole number of milliseconds, so delay and gate times can be typed in exactly, without rounding. 60 BPM is exactly 1 beat per second, which makes it a handy reference for counting along with a clock.
Dance tracks are usually arranged in 8-, 16- and 32-bar phrases. At 60 BPM a 16-bar phrase takes 1:04.0 min and a 32-bar intro or outro takes 2:08.0 min. That is 32 s longer than the same 16 bars at 120 BPM. A six-minute track at this tempo contains about 90 bars.
| Length | Time | Milliseconds |
|---|---|---|
| 1 beat | 1 s | 1000 ms |
| 1 bar (4 beats) | 4 s | 4000 ms |
| 4 bars | 16 s | 16000 ms |
| 8 bars | 32 s | 32000 ms |
| 16 bars | 1:04.0 min | 64000 ms |
| 32 bars | 2:08.0 min | 128000 ms |
| 64 bars | 4:16.0 min | 256000 ms |
Delay times at 60 BPM
Straight values follow the beat; dotted values are 1.5 times as long and triplets are two-thirds as long. At 60 BPM the popular dotted-eighth delay is 750 ms and a quarter-note slapback is 1000 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) | 4000 ms | 6000 ms | 2666.67 ms | 0.25 Hz |
| 1/2 | 2000 ms | 3000 ms | 1333.33 ms | 0.5 Hz |
| 1/4 (one beat) | 1000 ms | 1500 ms | 666.67 ms | 1 Hz |
| 1/8 | 500 ms | 750 ms | 333.33 ms | 2 Hz |
| 1/16 | 250 ms | 375 ms | 166.67 ms | 4 Hz |
| 1/32 | 125 ms | 187.5 ms | 83.33 ms | 8 Hz |
Reverb times at 60 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 60 BPM a 1/64-note pre-delay is 62.5 ms and a 1/32-note pre-delay is 125 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 | 62.5 ms | 1000 ms |
| Medium plate on vocals | 125 ms | 2000 ms |
| Large hall or pad wash | 125 ms | 4000 ms |
| Ambient tail over two bars | 250 ms | 8000 ms |
Genres at 60 BPM
60 BPM is a slow tempo; many listeners will also hear it at double-time. It sits at the bottom of the ambient/downtempo range (60–100).
Counted at double-time (120 BPM) it matches pop, disco and house. A detector or a tag in your library may report either reading, so check by ear which one the drums suggest.
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.
- Ambient/downtempo: typically 60–100 BPM — beatless ambient may not have a useful BPM at all.
Mixing into 60 BPM
To bring a track at another tempo up or down to 60 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 60 BPM reaches 55.2–64.8 BPM; a ±16 % range reaches 50.4–69.6 BPM.
| Track tempo | Pitch change to reach 60 | Key shift without key lock |
|---|---|---|
| 54 BPM | +11.11 % | +1.82 st |
| 56 BPM | +7.14 % | +1.19 st |
| 58 BPM | +3.45 % | +0.59 st |
| 59 BPM | +1.69 % | +0.29 st |
| 61 BPM | −1.64 % | −0.29 st |
| 62 BPM | −3.23 % | −0.57 st |
| 64 BPM | −6.25 % | −1.12 st |
| 66 BPM | −9.09 % | −1.65 st |
Half-time, double-time and nearby tempos
Half-time of 60 BPM is 30 BPM and double-time is 120 BPM.
30 BPM is 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 16.39 ms, so neighbouring tempos are close enough to beatmatch with a small pitch move.
Frequently asked questions
- How many milliseconds is one beat at 60 BPM?
- One beat (a quarter note) at 60 BPM is 60,000 ÷ 60 = 1000 ms. A 4/4 bar is four beats, 4000 ms.
- What is the dotted eighth delay time at 60 BPM?
- A dotted 1/8 delay at 60 BPM is 750 ms: an eighth note (500 ms) multiplied by 1.5. A straight quarter-note delay is 1000 ms and a quarter-note triplet is 666.67 ms.
- What genre is 60 BPM?
- Ambient/downtempo commonly uses 60 BPM. Genre ranges overlap, so the drum pattern and sound decide the style more than the number does.
- What is 60 BPM in Hz?
- 60 BPM is 1 Hz when one cycle equals one beat. An LFO synced to one bar runs at 0.25 Hz, and one synced to sixteenth notes at 4 Hz.