Tempo is the speed or pace of a given music piece. For bedroom producers, different tempos can really alter the mood of a track. And for a DJ, knowing the BPM makes beatmatching much easier.
In modern day music, a beats per minute (BPM) system denotes the tempo. And in our club-orientated context – based on a four to the floor time signature – conventionally a quarter note (crotchet) is specified as the beat. Here are some corresponding, relative BPM ranges:
- Trap: 65-85 (or sequenced at 130-170)
- Hip hop: 85-100, prominent 96
- House: 120–128, prominent 126
- Trance: 125-150, prominent 130
- Dubstep: 138-142, prominent 140
- Drum and bass: 150–180, prominent 160
- Speedcore: >180, prominent 250
These values should not be taken too seriously though.
When mixing music, you can use the underlying tempo; e.g. a dubstep track at 140 BPM mixes well with a trap track at 70 BPM, due to the same underlying tempo. Recall that the standard dubstep rhythm patterns anyway are syncopated at this half-time tempo – the snare usually hits every third beat in a bar.
Furthermore, regarding dubstep, a wobbling LFO rate synced at 1/32 notes, is double the speed at 140 BPM compared to a tempo marking of 70 BPM. In theory, this means that you could program at 70 BPM, but then your LFOs may not allow you to reach 1/64 wobbles.
When I compose music, I usually don’t shift tempo, but I do accentuate the underlying tempo on parts of the track.
P. S. If you’re into Italian tempo markings and other musical terms, go to college or read Wikipedia.