How To Use A Tuner In Logic Pro | 2 Main Methods

During music production, there are myriad parameters you should adjust and take control of to ensure your project sounds optimal. If you’re recording instruments live, it is of utmost importance to check the tuning before you move forward with capturing audio.

Using a physical guitar tuner can come to aid, but what if you don’t have one? Or, you’re using headphones and the tuner device can’t get the job done? This is where Logic Pro’s built-in tuner saves the day!

Not only using a tuner within your digital audio workstation (DAW) reduces the hassle, but it also can show your instrument’s pitch with a lot more accuracy: especially when you’re using line to connect your instrument directly to your audio interface.

In this post, I will show you two ways you can use a tuner in Logic Pro. Moreover, I will explain how to fix an out-of-tune recording.

First Method: Adding The Tuner To The Control Bar

Customizing the Control Bar and Display is one of the primary adjustments you should make in Logic Pro to streamline your workflow. Find out what tools you use the most and add them to the upper section of Logic’s interface to have them available at all times.

One of the invaluable tools you can add to the Control Bar is the built-in tuner. It allows you to quickly check the tuning of your instrument before you start recording. Here’s how to use it:

•  Control-click the upper section of Logic Pro’s interface.
•  Select “Customize Control Bar and Display…”
•  Check the box next to “Tuner.”

A dedicated tuner button shows up on the right side of the main LCD display. You can use it when you’ve selected an audio track (not available on software instrument tracks).

The built-in tuner in Logic is pretty straightforward to use. The center shows you your keynote (1), and you have the tune deviation display to its right (2).

To its left, you can drag the number up and down to set the pitch (3). The standard tuning is 440.0 Hz, but some might want to make music at 432 Hz for a more ambient, meditative sound. Lastly, you have the mute button (4) in the bottom-right corner of the tuner’s interface.

Second Method: Use The Tuner Plugin

Another way you can check the pitch of your track in Logic is by using the stock tuner plugin. It’s almost identical to the tuner you can access from the Control Bar.

•  Press “I” on your keyboard to open the inspector menu.
•  Click the “AUDIO FX” slot to open the list of plugins.
•  Hover your pointer on “Metering” and select “Tuner.”

The main difference is that you can use the tuner plugin on any kind of track, whether it’s an audio or software instrument. So, if you want to check how an envelope or LFO is affecting the pitch of your virtual instrument, you can use the tuner plugin.

What If Recorded Tracks Are Out Of Tune?

Using a tuner before you record an instrument is essential to ensure everything goes as planned and sounds good. But what if you’ve recorded a vocal line or a guitar part and realized it’s slightly out of tune here and there?

Ideally, the less work you have during post-production, the better. For instance, recording vocals in an acoustically treated space with the correct microphone position is always better for getting desirable results than neglecting these areas and trying to address too many imperfections using equalizers and compressors.

The same thing goes for pitch. If your recorded track is slightly out of tune, grab your microphone or instrument and try to record it again. If that’s not an option, your best alternative is Logic’s Flex Pitch feature.

Flex Pitch allows you to treat an audio region like MIDI in the Editor window. When you turn on Flex Pitch, Logic analyzes the audio signals and shows each note on a piano roll in the editor window. It allows you to move note blocks up and down, adjust vibrato, and use Fine Pitch to tune notes that are slightly off.

Here’s how you enable Flex Pitch In Logic:

•  Select your audio region and press “E” on your keyboard to open the Editor window.
•  Click the button that looks like an infinite loop to turn on the Flex Editing mode.
•  Choose “Flex Pitch” from the Flex Editing menu.

Flex Pitch is an excellent alternative to auto-tune if your goal is to make minor adjustments. However, using too much Flex Pitch, especially on vocals, can create unnatural, and heavily-processed sounds. Therefore, it is important to use it to taste. In another post, I have extensively explained how to use Flex Pitch to edit audio in Logic Pro.

Final Thoughts: Make Tuning Before Production A Habit

When I first started producing my own music, one of the common hiccups I ran into was recording guitar tracks just to realize I'd forgotten to tune my instrument and have to capture everything all over again.

It’s best if you always check tuning before arming a track for recording to ensure nothing is out of tune. Preventing such inaccuracies is always easier than spending a lot of time using editing tricks to make your track sound half-decent.

For more lessons on music production, mixing, mastering, and songwriting, check out my Free 6 Pillars To Learn Logic Pro Faster guidebook.