Tempo & rhythm
Pitch fader
The pitch fader is the slider that speeds a track up or slows it down, usually by up to 6 or 8 percent. It is how two records are brought to the same tempo before they are mixed.
Measured in our catalog
A ±6% pitch fader reaches furthest from 127 BPM, where it covers 266,249 of 443,680 tracks with a detected tempo (60.0%) — more than it reaches from 128, the tempo the catalog actually stocks most.
The busiest shelf and the best-connected one are not the same tempo. 128 BPM holds 35,264 tracks, more than any other, but sitting there puts 56.9% of the catalog inside your fader against 60.0% from 127 — because reach is decided by what sits either side of you, not by what sits under you.
| Start | Range | Tracks in reach | Share |
|---|---|---|---|
| 120 BPM | 113–127 | 195,946 | 44.2% |
| 124 BPM | 117–131 | 256,049 | 57.7% |
| 126 BPM | 119–133 | 263,230 | 59.3% |
| 128 BPM | 121–135 | 252,478 | 56.9% |
| 130 BPM | 123–137 | 225,952 | 50.9% |
| 135 BPM | 127–143 | 153,531 | 34.6% |
| 140 BPM | 132–148 | 82,410 | 18.6% |
| 150 BPM | 141–159 | 37,060 | 8.4% |
Measured on 11 August 2026 across public tracks with a detected BPM, counting the whole-number tempo shelves that fall entirely inside ±6% of each starting tempo. Method: how we correct half-time BPM detection.
Why it matters
The fader is the hard limit on what you can play next. Whatever is inside its range you can reach; whatever is outside it you cannot, no matter how well the two records would have gone together. Every other decision in a mix happens inside that window.
Which is why the window is worth more at some tempos than others. The same six percent buys you a large share of a catalog in the middle of the house range and almost nothing at the edges, and that asymmetry is invisible until somebody counts it.
In Mixgraph
Suggestions are scored on how far the tempo has to travel, so what you see first is what your fader can actually reach.
Frequently asked
How much can you pitch a track before it sounds wrong?+
Most DJs stay inside about 6 percent, which is the default range on a CDJ. Beyond that, drums start to sound thin or sluggish and vocals give the change away long before the beat does.
Does the pitch fader change the key?+
Yes, unless key lock is on. One semitone is a 5.95% tempo change, so a fader run to the end of a ±6% range moves the track almost exactly one semitone — and seven positions around the Camelot wheel.
Why is 6% the standard pitch range?+
Because it is roughly one semitone. At 5.95% the pitch has moved a full semitone, so a ±6% fader spans the largest tempo change you can make while still being able to describe the result as the same key, give or take.
Related terms
BPM
BPM — beats per minute — counts how many beats land in sixty seconds. It is the first number a DJ checks, because two tracks have to agree on tempo before anything else about them matters.
Beatmatching
Beatmatching is lining up two tracks so their beats land together — matching the tempo, then nudging the phase until the kicks coincide. It is the base skill every other mixing technique sits on top of.
Key lock
Key lock — master tempo on a CDJ — holds a track at its original pitch while you change its tempo. Without it, speeding a record up raises its key and quietly undoes whatever harmonic mixing you had planned.
Tempo bridge
A tempo bridge is a track played to move a set from one tempo neighbourhood to another — fast enough to follow what came before, slow enough to lead into what comes next, so the change never happens in one jump.
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