OMFG!!!
You got to be kidding?!
BPM = Beats Per Minute
You look at a clock with a second hand...and then just tap and count for one minute!!!
Like how hard and how long is that going to be?
Oh wait...I know...ONE MINUTE!
Then when you have your BMP...just type it into your software app.
I'm going to be the grumpy one for once that speaks my mind...
God, its only a tempo marking, not some kind of unsolvable imaginary number. You're putting too much thought into this. You have far more flexibility by using the click in your DAW as you can have the confidence that it will be properly sync'd, will follow the tempo map and any time signature changes, etc. Tap out tempo on your leg and hold the beat in your head... take a guess at the approximate tempo (which you can usually get quite close with anyway) and listen back to the click... if its too slow you estimate by how much and put it up, if its too fast you put it down... repeat until correct tempo found. Hardly rocket science! Should take no longer than a minute which is, in the scheme of how long you are likely to spend on the recording, nothing.
End of grumpy post
Personally, I use an actual metronome. It is an elongated sort of pyramid shaped box made of wood. It has a metal rod that rocks back and forth creating a click sound with each pass. There is a metal weight that you can slide up and down the metal rod. Slide it up and the tempo slows, down and the tempo increases. You can set it to the appropriate tempo in mere seconds. It has tempo markings on it like "largo", "adagio" and "presto". I have no idea what that translates to in BPMs nor do I need to know. Of course, it doesn't handle tempo changes too well
). Sure...you can cheat and just tap 5 beats and let the device or app do the math for you, but, you are most likely going to be off by a beat or two across the full minute....which is why counting (or taping) for one minute is the most accurate IMO.
Far too inaccurate for me, I'm afraid but nice to see people still using them.
Well...you still have to sit there and tap, don't you?
If you want to be accurate...you need to tap or count for the full minute....(it takes the same amount of time
I’ll even do it twice just to make sure I'm not off by one beat because even one BPM up/down can sometimes change the feel.
This would be a very ineffective way to determine a click tempo. First, it'd be inaccurate. Even a person with excellent rhythmic sense would usually vary the tempo slightly during a minute's time, making a less accurate result than a single measure's tapping. Second, no one in their right mind would spend a whole minute counting the number of beats unless they were conducting a scientific test, especially a creative person, no offense.If you want to be accurate...you need to tap or count for the full minute....(it takes the same amount of time
I’ll even do it twice just to make sure I'm not off by one beat because even one BPM up/down can sometimes change the feel.
The OP's lack of any interest in understanding the concept of beats per minute and how that relates to his music, however, is not.
I'm in the purist camp here. I take a guess at about what the tempo seems to be. If the resulting click is too fast, I adjust it down. Too slow, adjust it up. When it's just right, I hit the little red button and go.
Understanding BPM, and how one chooses to set up a click track when recording are different things. NO doubt the OP understand BPM perfectly well. Creative people can have very specific things that add to or repress their creativity. Creative people are being smart when they recognize that and find ways of working that emphasize their strengths and minimize frustration. Additionally, a small percentage of people feel awkward with anything number-related beyond a very basic level. There are many types of intelligence, and musical aptitudes can be very specific in relation to that.
