Count your 8s — big, loud, and exactly on tempo

What an 8-count actually is

An 8-count is two bars of 4/4 music: eight beats, counted 1 through 8. Dancers put the accent on count 1 and count 5, because those are the downbeats of the two bars. The counts in between pass at the same speed and carry no accent.

Four 8-counts make a 32-count phrase, which is the usual length of a dance phrase and the unit most choreography is taught in. So one phrase is eight bars of music, and the phrase restarts every 32 counts.

The arithmetic of a count

Every count length comes from one division: seconds per count is 60 divided by the BPM. At 120 BPM a count is 0.5 seconds and an 8-count is 4 seconds. At 128 BPM a count is 0.469 seconds and an 8-count is 3.75 seconds. At 90 BPM a count is 0.667 seconds and an 8-count is 5.33 seconds.

The same arithmetic scales up to the phrase. A 32-count at 120 BPM lasts 16 seconds, and a 32-count at 90 BPM lasts 21.33 seconds. Practice speed multiplies the count length: 50% on a 120 BPM tempo counts at 60 BPM, so each count takes 1 second and each 8-count takes 8 seconds.

Writing the count sheet

The count sheet is the paper half of rehearsal, laid out one row per 8-count: the bars it covers, the time it starts and ends, and the one thing that happens in it. The sheet above is generated from the tempo and practice speed you set, so it stays honest when you slow the count down — move 120 BPM to 90 and every row of times moves with it. Nothing on it needs an audio file, because this counter counts the tempo you type rather than listening to the song.

Type an action into each row as you build the phrase, then export it. CSV gives you the numbers for a rehearsal spreadsheet — count, bars, start and end in seconds, and the action. Print gives you a clean sheet titled with the tempo you set, to tape up in the studio.

That table is the worked example at 120 BPM, kept here because the arithmetic is easier to read than to tap: an 8-count is two bars, so four of them cover bars 1–8 and 16 seconds. The generated sheet above is the same thing at whatever tempo you are actually working at.

Teaching it slow, then at tempo

Practice speed scales the count without changing the BPM you typed. Set 120 BPM, drag the speed to 70%, and each count becomes 0.714 seconds and each 8-count 5.71 seconds. Teach the phrase there, then step up 5% at a time; the tempo field stays at 120 and you never re-tap to climb back.

The four preset chips are that routine in one click each: Warm-up (90 BPM at 70%, 63 counts a minute), At tempo (120 at full speed), Teach it spoken (100 at 60%, with the counts said out loud) and Performance (132 with both the click and the voice). Picking a chip sets the tempo, the practice speed and the sound mode together; editing any of them by hand moves the highlight to whichever chip still matches, or to none if none does.

Press Space to start. The tempo is a number you supply, so tap it in over the track first and check the count against the drums before you trust it.

One limit, stated plainly: this counter counts the tempo you set, it does not listen to the song. If the track drifts from your number, the counts drift with it, and nothing here will pull them back.

Putting it on the studio wall

Point the display at the room rather than at yourself. Mirror on pre-flips the count so it reads correctly in a studio mirror, or in a projection you watch from the far side.

The display marks 1 and 5 with a heavier number, and a row of eight dots advances a step per count. On the Click setting the click plays a higher tone on 1, a lower tone on 5, and a lower one again on the rest, so dancers hear the downbeats without looking up. Switch to Voice and the counter says the counts out loud instead, still lifting the pitch on 1 and 5; Both plays the click and speaks at once, which is the setting that survives a noisy room.

Voice uses the speech engine already installed in your browser or operating system and refuses any voice that lives on a server, so the count never waits on a network call. If the browser reports no on-device voice, Voice mode falls back to the click and says so under the controls rather than going silent.

Copy settings link puts the tempo, the practice speed, the sound mode and both toggles in the URL. Send it to your dancers and they open the same setup instead of a fresh default page.

How to count 8s for a dance routine

1. Set the tempoType the song's BPM, or press T in time with the music to tap it in.
2. Pick optionsSet the practice speed, turn the click sound on or off, and turn Mirror on if the screen faces the dancers.
3. Start countingPress Start counting (or Space). Counts 1 and 5 are accented on screen and in the click.
4. Share itPress Copy settings link to send the same tempo and settings to your dancers.

Frequently asked questions