BPM to Milliseconds: The Complete Guide for Producers

How to convert any tempo to delay times, pre-delay values, and reverb tails — with the formula, a reference table for common BPMs, and a free browser calculator.

If you've ever dialled in a delay or reverb and felt like it wasn't quite sitting right, there's a good chance the timing was slightly off the grid. Tempo-syncing your effects to the BPM of a track is one of the fastest ways to make a mix feel tight and intentional rather than coincidental.

The conversion from BPM to milliseconds is simple arithmetic, but few producers have the table memorised. This guide walks through the formula, gives you a reference table for the most common tempos, and explains when each note division actually matters in practice.

The BPM to milliseconds formula

Every beat in music has a duration. That duration depends entirely on the tempo — the faster the song, the shorter each beat. The formula is:

So at 120 BPM, one quarter note lasts 500 ms. At 90 BPM it's 667 ms. At 140 BPM it's 429 ms. From that single number you can derive every other note division:

• Half note: quarter note × 2
• Whole note: quarter note × 4
• Eighth note: quarter note ÷ 2
• Sixteenth note: quarter note ÷ 4
• Dotted quarter: quarter note × 1.5
• Dotted eighth: eighth note × 1.5
• Quarter note triplet: quarter note × (2/3)

Reference table: common BPMs in milliseconds

Here are the most commonly used tempos with their quarter-note, eighth-note, and dotted-eighth values — the three you'll reach for most often when setting delays.

How to use these numbers in practice

Delay time

Set your delay plugin's feedback time to an eighth note or dotted eighth and your echoes will land on rhythmically meaningful points in the bar. The dotted eighth (three-sixteenths long) is the U2/Edge signature delay — it creates the illusion of a faster rhythm without adding clutter.

Pre-delay on reverb

Pre-delay is the gap between a dry signal and the reverb tail. Setting it to a sixteenth or thirty-second note value lifts the dry signal off the reverb, adding clarity without removing the sense of space. At 120 BPM, a sixteenth note is 125 ms — try values around 10–20 ms (shorter than a sixteenth) for a natural-sounding room, or 60–80 ms for a more theatrical separation.

Reverb decay

For rhythmically active music, the reverb tail should decay before or near the next beat so it doesn't muddy the attack. A quarter or half note decay at tempo is a good starting point and keeps the mix energetic.

Sidechain and modulation rates

Tremolo, auto-pan, and filter LFO rates can also be tempo-synced using the same ms values. A tremolo at a dotted eighth rate gives classic pumping Hendrix-style tremolo; a filter sweep at a bar length (4 × quarter note) works for long sweeping buildups.

Frequently asked questions