House · 2010s — present
What BPM is Melodic house?
Melodic house sits at 124 BPM at the median, with most tracks between 122 and 125 BPM. The genre's editorial range is 118–126 BPM; our catalog measures slightly tighter.
Median BPM
124
Common range
122–125
Mean
124
Tracks measured
168
BPM distribution
168 tracks · median 124 BPM · most of the catalog sits between 122 and 125 BPM · 8 outliers removed by IQR filter.
Why this tempo?
Melodic house settled at 118–126 BPM because it inherited the four-on-the-floor pocket of classic house (120 BPM) while absorbing the restraint of deep house and the uplifted energy of progressive house. This tempo range allows kick patterns to sit cleanly on quantized 16th-note hi-hat rolls and sidechain compression without forcing the groove into the frenetic territory of tech house (128+). The 2010s festival circuit demanded a tempo that could sustain emotional builds across 8 and 16-bar phrase boundaries—slower than peak-time techno, fast enough to maintain dancefloor momentum through cinematic breakdowns. At 122–124 BPM, reverb-heavy synth pads and filtered basslines have room to breathe without losing propulsion.
Where your track fits
Three reference points along the BPM axis for melodic house, with what the position implies about the track.
Groovy side
Lower quartile — patient builds, deeper grooves, long blends.
Genre centre
Median — what most tracks in the catalog actually sound like.
Peak-time edge
Upper quartile — pushes the floor, bridges into faster neighbours.
Where melodic house sits on the tempo axis
Median BPM of melodic house compared to neighbouring genres in the same family. Closer medians mean easier cross-genre transitions.
Popular melodic house tracks at the median BPM
Catalog tracks within ±2 BPM of 124, sorted by popularity.
Top melodic house artists in the catalog
Names you’ll meet often when building melodic house sets.
Producing melodic house — tempo notes
- ›Set your main kick at 124 BPM and use 16th-note sidechain on strings and pads to create the restrained pulse; avoid sidechain on the bass itself to preserve low-end weight.
- ›Build breakdowns over 16 bars at 122 BPM, cutting the kick entirely while maintaining a filtered, swung hi-hat pattern to signal the groove's return without losing tension.
- ›Layer cinematic synths with 200–400 ms pre-delay on reverb; at 124 BPM, this delay time aligns with 16th-note triplet phrasing and prevents wash-out during the kick's return.
Mixing melodic house sets — tempo notes
- ›Blend tracks over 32 bars at 124 BPM by riding the incoming track's reverb send up before the kick hits; this masks tempo micro-variations across records.
- ›EQ incoming tracks' low-mids (250–500 Hz) down by 2–3 dB during the overlap to prevent kick clash; melodic house's restrained groove leaves little headroom for frequency collision.
- ›Use a 4-bar loop of the outgoing track's breakdown (kick removed, pads only) as a transition bed; at 124 BPM, this gives you clean 16-bar phrase alignment with the incoming track's build.