Click Tracks

[MowingDevil]

a) What is the best way to generate a click track in an existing Finale score?

b) What is the best way to export just the click track and the instruments as separate audio files?

[motet]

You could just write a percussion line--claves, maybe--and populate it with quarter notes.

[MowingDevil]

Good suggestion. What about exporting audio w/ separate tracks for the click/clave and the rest of the instruments. Muting in the mixer? I've never exported audio from Finale before, not quite sure the correct process.

[motet]

I haven't either. I don't know of exporting audio obeys the muting or not--try it!

The other would be to get Audacity or similar and record Finale's playback.

[michelp]

Another hint : If you create a part of the percussion staff and display that part on the screen, the exported audio file will only include that staff.

[miker]

Good suggestion. What about exporting audio w/ separate tracks for the click/clave and the rest of the instruments. Muting in the mixer? I've never exported audio from Finale before, not quite sure the correct process.

That's how I do it. Mute, Solo, or mix, that's how come they call it a mixer!

[ttw]

I put claves rather commonly in pieces. They would make a good click track. I've actually used them as real "claves" in either 3-2 or 2-3 in the son-clave and rumba-clave versions. They help when I'm trying to devise a melody. One can erase or mute them later. (I've put bongos and congas and güiros too, but that's probably more Latin-style specific.

[rogue335]

Finale should obey the solo/muting parameters set in the score manager for exporting audio. Solo whatever track(s) you want and then export with the claves/woodblock/percussion instrument also solo'd. That's generally the easiest way to do it without too much extra work

When I've exported audio for click tracks, I typically have a lot of tempo changes and a lot of instrument sounds so the click needs to be really synthetic and clear over whats going on. What I do is create the tempo mapping based off of the score in Logic, then drag in the audio files and align them. You could also program any tempo changes into the Tonalenergy app ( only on mobile device), screen record your phone, play the programed track and then take the audio from that video recording (that is if you want the Dr. Beat sound from tonal energy specifically).

[MowingDevil]

Good stuff, thanks. Glad to hear it obeys the mixer when outputting audio - hey you never know w/ Finale
Clavé it is for the click track.