House · 1990s UK — present
What BPM is Tech house?
Tech house sits at 128 BPM at the median, with most tracks between 126 and 130 BPM. The genre's editorial range is 122–130 BPM; our catalog measures slightly tighter.
Median BPM
128
Common range
126–130
Mean
128
Tracks measured
989
BPM distribution
989 tracks · median 128 BPM · most of the catalog sits between 126 and 130 BPM · 11 outliers removed by IQR filter.
How tech house tempo has shifted
Across 602 tech house tracks spanning 2017–2026, the median has crept up by 5.0 BPM (from 124 to 129) with the highest median in 2025 (130 BPM) and the lowest in 2017 (124 BPM).
Why this tempo?
Tech house settled at 122–130 BPM because it bridges two worlds: the four-on-the-floor kick of house music and the stripped, hypnotic groove of minimal techno. This tempo range emerged from 1990s UK warehouse culture, where 120–124 BPM allowed DJs to blend classic house records with the emerging techno sound without radical pitch-shifting. The speed is fast enough to sustain dancefloor momentum across a four-hour set, yet slow enough that intricate hi-hat patterns, sidechain compression, and rolling percussion remain articulate rather than blurred. Modern tech house producers lock into 124–126 BPM as a sweet spot: kick and bass lock tight, swing sits naturally on 16th-note hi-hats, and breakdown tension builds without losing the hypnotic thread.
Where your track fits
Three reference points along the BPM axis for tech 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 tech house sits on the tempo axis
Median BPM of tech house compared to neighbouring genres in the same family. Closer medians mean easier cross-genre transitions.
Popular tech house tracks at the median BPM
Catalog tracks within ±2 BPM of 128, sorted by popularity.
Top tech house artists in the catalog
Names you’ll meet often when building tech house sets.
- Cloonee24
- Chris Lake20
- Matroda18
- San Pacho15
- FISHER14
- Biscits14
- John Summit11
- Joshwa11
Producing tech house — tempo notes
- ›Anchor your kick at 124 BPM with a tight, sub-heavy attack; sidechain compress your bass at 1/4 note intervals to let the low-end breathe without losing groove lock.
- ›Layer rolling 16th-note percussion (shakers, filtered hi-hats) with 12–15% swing to create the rolling feel; avoid quantizing to grid at 100% or the groove flattens.
- ›Build breakdowns by stripping kick and bass entirely for 8–16 bars, leaving only filtered pads and sparse percussion; re-introduce the kick at 122–124 BPM to anchor the return.
Mixing tech house sets — tempo notes
- ›Blend tracks over 32 bars minimum at 124–126 BPM; use EQ to isolate the incoming kick's sub-frequencies before the outgoing kick drops, preventing phase clash.
- ›Keep your crossfader movement slow and deliberate; tech house's restrained energy means abrupt cuts kill the hypnotic state—use long fades and filter sweeps instead.
- ›Match swing and hi-hat timing across tracks before mixing; if one track has 15% swing and the next has 8%, the groove will feel broken during the blend.