Quick Tip: Finding the Tempo of a Track in ProTools

Here’s a quick and easy way to identify the tempo of a track using ProTools:

1. Import the track into your ProTools session.

2. Create a region (Command + E) of several bars – I like to use at least 4 bars. Be as accurate as you can when identifying a downbeat (see image below).

3. Select your new region and Click Command+I (Event menu > Identify Beat…)

This will open the Add Bar | Beat Markers window.

4. In the Add Bar | Beat Markers window, enter the start and stop bar of your selection along with the time signature. In this example I made a region that was 9 bars long at a time signature of 6/8.

ProTools will automatically move the song start marker to the beginning of your selection and insert the calculated tempo, in this case 96.1398.

It’s not uncommon for the tempo to be slightly off. ProTools is sample-accurate and calculates the tempo based on our selection. But us humans are not sample-accurate, so our selections will likely be slightly off.

In the above example, the beat was identified as 96.1398. It is actually 96. You can change the tempo manually if you wish. The longer the selection you use to identify the beat, the more accurate it will be. And here’s For King & Country, the track I used for this example:

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If you have any questions, feel free to contact me, or add a comment.