Maximum BPM deviation from original
Hi,
I wanted to find what peoples thoughts were on how much you should deviate from a tracks native BPM.
For example, some of my music is 120 and actually sounds better at 125 but i just want to find what the general consensus is.
Thanks M
There is no rule of thumb here except if it sounds good, do it. Imho
For the deep house and techno I play I try and stay under 5% difference. The higher quality the track the more you can push it.
+/- 4 percent
I regularly slow down tech house tracks from 125ish down to 105, and while they doesn’t sound like the originals, drastically slowed down or sped up tracks can have their own surprising charms. Like Deejaesnafu said, there isn’t a set rule on this
A 6% change represents one key change as well (without keylock or something similar). So, for mixing from any tech without keylock I try to keep the changes to +/- 3%.
Once you are in a DAW…as far as it will let you go…provided you still like the resulting sound. In Ableton Live I have made a few 30% changes that gave songs entirely new character and life. Even so, it is rare that I would do more than about +/-10% even in a DAW.
Keep in mind that at a CD sample rate of 44.1kHz, change in tempo require some extrapolation to fill the music back into a “full range” of frequency content. If you are creating original content and can sample at 96kHz or 192kHz those samples will provide better resolution for “large” changes in tempo. If all you have is 44.1kHz, then anything beyond 10% is pushing things, IME.
^ Yep, just keep it under 6% 
I’ve played 33’s at 45 (and vice versa).
Personally Without time stretch (Key Lock) ±6% on tracks with a vocal ±8 without
With Time stretch -6 +16 with a vocal, -10 +12 appx without , theres too many glitchy artifacts when you slow down a track further for my liking.
some times i’ll slow down a 170 dnb to 135, you’d be surprised all the hidden sounds you’ll year.