Machine learningRhythm and timing

Tempo Estimation

Tempo estimation is the task of automatically determining the beats per minute (BPM) or tempo of a musical recording. Introduced by Scheirer (1998), it is fundamental to rhythm analysis, music classification, and synchronization applications. Tempo is one of the most perceptually salient features of music; accurate estimation enables music-aware systems and human-machine interaction. Unlike beat tracking, which produces discrete beat times, tempo estimation yields a single BPM value (or a distribution of likely tempi).

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Sources

  1. Scheirer, E. D. (1998). Tempo and beat analysis of acoustic musical signals. The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America, 103(1), 588-601. DOI: 10.1121/1.423256
  2. Davies, M. E., Böck, S., & Flexer, A. (2013). Towards end-of-life music recommendations based on listening and moving. In Proceedings of the International Society for Music Information Retrieval Conference. link
  3. Gkiokas, A., Katsouros, V., Pikrakis, A., & Theodoridis, S. (2012). Music tempo estimation and beat tracking by applying source separation and metrical learning. In Proceedings of the International Society for Music Information Retrieval Conference. link

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Referenced by

ScholarGateTempo Estimation (Tempo Estimation Algorithm). Retrieved 2026-06-04 from https://scholargate.app/en/music-information-retrieval/tempo-estimation