Running Time · Tempo · Pages
Bar Count Estimator
Someone sends a track and asks what it costs to copy. This turns the running time into a bar count, then the bar count into pages, so you can give a number back before anyone opens a file.
Estimate
Running time takes minutes:seconds or plain seconds. Filling in a time and tempo overwrites the bar count.
Estimated Pages (Rounded Up)
0pages
Bars
0bars
Enter a running time and a tempo, or type a bar count straight in.
How to Use It
Type the running time and the tempo. Beats per bar stays at 4 unless you change it, so set it to 3 for a waltz or 2 for a fast cut-time chart. The bar count fills itself in and the page estimate follows from the part type.
If you already know the bar count, type it into Bars and leave the top row empty. Nothing up there is required.
One warning worth taking seriously: this assumes a single tempo from top to bottom. A chart that pushes and pulls, or sits on a fermata, will come out short or long. Split it at the tempo changes, run each section, and add the bars together.
Page counts use the AFM Local 802 measures-per-page guide and round up to the half page, which is how the price list bills. The Page Estimator shows the full table and handles a whole orchestra at once.
FAQ
How does it get a bar count from a running time?
Seconds times tempo gives you beats. Beats divided by the beats per bar gives you bars. The arithmetic is not the hard part; remembering to do it before you quote is.
What about a chart that changes tempo?
Run each section separately and add the bar counts together. One tempo across a chart that speeds up or slows down will be off, sometimes badly.
Where do the page counts come from?
The AFM Local 802 measures-per-page guide — the same table the Page Estimator uses.
How accurate is this?
Close enough to quote from, not close enough to invoice from. Count the real pages once the part is engraved.