Musical Attributes Widget
The musical attributes widget shows the core musical properties of your track — BPM, key, genre, and mood. These values help you search, filter, and organise your library by the characteristics that matter when you are looking for the right song.
Whether the values were auto-detected during import or you set them manually, this widget is where you view and manage them.
What You See
Section titled “What You See”The widget displays four attributes for the selected track:
| Attribute | Description | Example |
|---|---|---|
| BPM | Beats per minute — the tempo of the track | 128 |
| Key | The musical key | A minor, F# major |
| Genre | The genre classification | Lo-Fi, Drum & Bass, Hip-Hop |
| Mood | The emotional character | Dark, Uplifting, Melancholic |
Each attribute is shown as an editable field. If a value has been set (either automatically or manually), it displays inline. If no value has been set, the field shows a placeholder prompting you to add one.
Auto-Detected Values
Section titled “Auto-Detected Values”When you import a track that includes audio files, Producer Dashboard can automatically analyse the audio and detect the BPM and key. This happens in the background after import.
Auto-detected values appear in the widget with a subtle indicator showing they were set by analysis rather than manually. If the analysis is still running, you will see a processing state.
Auto-detection works well for most tracks, but it is not perfect. Complex time signatures, tempo changes, or heavily processed audio may produce inaccurate results. When that happens, override the value manually.
Editing Attributes
Section titled “Editing Attributes”To change any attribute:
- Select a track in the grid.
- Open the activity panel and find the Musical Attributes widget.
- Click on the field you want to edit (BPM, key, genre, or mood).
- Type the new value or select from the dropdown options.
- The change saves automatically when you click away or press Enter.
There is no save button. Edits are applied instantly and synced in the background.
Click the BPM field and type a number. Whole numbers and decimals are both accepted (e.g. 140 or 87.5). If you are unsure of the exact BPM, a rough value is better than none — you can always refine it later.
Click the key field to open a dropdown with standard musical keys. Select the root note and choose major or minor. If your track is in a less common mode or you prefer a custom notation, you can type it in directly.
Click the genre field to see a list of genres, or start typing to search. You can select from the predefined list or type a custom genre. There is no limit on genre length, but keeping it concise helps with grid readability.
Similar to genre, click the mood field and select from the list or type your own. Mood is subjective, so use whatever terminology fits your workflow. Some producers use single words (Dark, Bouncy, Ethereal) while others use short phrases.
Why Attributes Matter
Section titled “Why Attributes Matter”Musical attributes become powerful when combined with filtering and sorting in the track grid.
Some practical scenarios:
- Finding tracks in the same key for a DJ set or mashup — filter by key and sort by BPM
- Grouping similar moods for a playlist submission — filter by mood tag
- Quickly identifying tempo when a sync brief asks for “upbeat tracks between 120-130 BPM”
- Organising by genre when your library spans multiple styles
The more consistently you fill in these values, the more useful your library becomes as it grows.
Multi-Select Behaviour
Section titled “Multi-Select Behaviour”When multiple tracks are selected, the musical attributes widget shows:
- Matching values — if all selected tracks share the same BPM, key, genre, or mood, that value displays normally
- Mixed values — if the selected tracks have different values, the field shows “Mixed”
- Bulk editing — you can set a value on a mixed field and it will apply to all selected tracks
This is useful for batch-assigning genre or mood to a group of tracks from the same session or project.
- Trust but verify auto-detection. The analyser does a good job on straightforward tracks, but always double-check if something feels off. A detected BPM of 72 on a track that is clearly 144 (half-time detection) is a common edge case.
- Be consistent with genre and mood labels. Decide on a terminology convention and stick to it. “Lo-Fi Hip-Hop” and “Lofi Hip Hop” create two separate filter categories.
- Fill in attributes during import sessions. When you bring in a batch of new tracks, take a minute to set genre and mood while the context is fresh. It saves time later.
- Use attributes alongside tags. Attributes are great for objective musical properties (BPM, key) while tags work well for subjective or contextual labels (client name, session date, release status).
Related
Section titled “Related”- Using the Activity Panel — how the full panel works
- Tags Widget — complementary labelling system
- Using Tags — filtering and organising with tags
- The Tracks Grid — sorting and filtering by attributes