Click Track in Studio One (Fender Studio Pro): Metronome, Precount, Render and the Split File
· 6 min read
Studio One was renamed Fender Studio Pro with version 8 in January 2026. The metronome, Precount and the Render button work the same way, and what Studio One 7 called a Song is now a Session. For a backing track with a click in it, the file a drummer plays to on stage, it has almost everything built in. If the term is new, what a click track is is the short version. This page walks the route from Fender's Studio Pro manual, version 8.2.
If the song is on your computer, hear CountIn put a click on every beat of it. Listening is free and needs no account.
The metronome and the Precount
| Control | Where | What it does |
|---|---|---|
| Metronome | Transport, left of the master fader (key C) | Turns the click on and off globally; off by default |
| Metronome Setup | Right-click or long press the Metronome button | Sounds, levels, Precount, Render |
| Beat, Accent, Subdivision | Metronome Setup | A sample and a level for each; seventeen samples, including Click, Clave, Rim Shot and Tambourine |
| Precount | Metronome context menu, bars set in Metronome Setup | Bars of click before recording starts |
| Click Only in Precount | Metronome Setup | Count-in only, no click after it |
| Click in Playback | Metronome Setup | Off means a click while recording but not on playback |
| Drum Metronome | Metronome Setup or context menu | 75 drum patterns instead of a click |
The manual says the Accent "plays on the downbeat, or first beat, of each new bar", and its level is set higher than the Beat level by default, so beat one stands out without any setup. Output channels in the Console have their own Metronome button and level, so the click can go to the headphone output and stay off the main mix.
A click you can export: Render
Studio Pro turns the metronome into audio with a button. In Metronome Setup, click Render in the upper right corner and pick a range. The manual says this creates "a click track that is either the full length of your Session, or just the length of a looped range within it". The result is an ordinary audio track, so it goes into the mixdown like any other. The Drum Metronome renders the same way, if the drummer would rather play to a beat.
For a count-in inside the file, move the song so that its first beat lands on bar 3 and render the full Session: bars 1 and 2 become the count-in. If you do not know the tempo, click on the word "Tempo" in the Transport once on every beat you hear and Studio Pro sets the Session tempo. The manual warns to set the audio track's Tempo mode to Don't Follow first, otherwise the song stretches while you tap. The free BPM finder reads it from the file instead.
Click left, music right
A click through the whole song only works where the audience cannot hear it, so the file bands use has the click on the left channel and the song on the right. This is where the default panner trips people up. The manual: "On stereo channels, the panner adjusts the balance of left and right signal levels." Turn a stereo song fully right in Balance mode and you hear only its right side, so a guitar panned left is gone.
- Pan the rendered click track fully left.
- Right-click the panner of the song's track and choose Dual, which the manual describes as "a stereo panner that allows for independent left/right panning". Drag both endpoints fully right. Both sides of the song now play in mono on the right channel. Check the level, since the two sides add up.
- Choose Session > Export Mixdown (Ctrl or Cmd + E). Pick Wave or MP3, set Speaker Format to Stereo, choose Session Content or Between Session Start/End Marker as the range, and export.
Dual pan does not apply to mono channels, so if the song was imported as mono, a plain pan fully right is enough. How the split file works and how to wire it has the diagram.
A song that was not recorded to a click
Right-click the song's audio event and you get two tempo options. Detect Tempo works the other way round from what a backing track needs: the manual says it "aligns the timing of the original Audio Event to the Session tempo", which stretches the recording to a straight grid when time stretching is on. Extract to Tempo Track is the one to use. It "applies variation to the Session tempo map, so the Session will follow the timing variations of your original audio event", and a click rendered after it follows the song.
Play it back with the metronome on before you render. Tempo detection in any software can land on double or half the tempo, or slip in a section where the band speeds up. We measured how far famous records move: Stairway to Heaven goes from 71 to about 102 BPM, Honky Tonk Women from 113 to 126, so a song like that is the case to check bar by bar.
If you do not have Studio Pro at hand, or need the file in a minute rather than an evening, the click track maker reads every beat from the recording in the browser, puts a click on each one with beat one tuned higher, adds the count-in and exports click left, music right. Step by step: how to add a click track to any backing track.
Other DAWs
The same job in Cubase, MainStage, FL Studio, Logic Pro, GarageBand, REAPER, Ableton Live, Pro Tools and Audacity.
Frequently asked questions
How do I turn on the metronome in Studio One?
Click the Metronome button in the Transport, left of the master fader, or press C. Right-click it for Metronome Setup, where you set the sounds, the levels and the Precount.
Can Studio One export the click track?
Yes. The Render button in Metronome Setup creates an audio track with the click for the whole Session or a looped range, and that track exports with Session > Export Mixdown like any other.
Where is the count-in in Studio One?
It is called Precount. Turn it on from the Metronome context menu and set the number of bars in Metronome Setup. Click Only in Precount gives a count-in without a click after it.
Is Studio One the same as Fender Studio Pro?
Yes. Fender renamed Studio One to Fender Studio Pro with version 8 in January 2026. The metronome, Render and Precount work the same, and a Song is now called a Session.
Can Studio One make a click follow a song that changes tempo?
Yes: right-click the audio event and choose Extract to Tempo Track, so the Session tempo follows the recording, then render the metronome. Check the result with the metronome before you render, especially in sections where the band speeds up.
If the song is on your computer, hear CountIn put a click on every beat of it. Listening is free and needs no account.
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