Using TineEQ.

What’s new

• Compare and Details. Hear your session with and without the last request, and see why each change was made. See Checking its work.
• Faster finishing. With the Logic driver, Logic exports the tracks in seconds instead of playing the song, and the loudness is measured without a second pass.
• One step to put TineEQ on every track. Ask for it instead of inserting it by hand.
• Timing. Tighten phrases to the beat and line a double up with the lead. Finish the song now aligns doubles by default.
• Mix judging. Compare your mix with commercial references in hip-hop, afro house, amapiano and kuduro, or with a record you choose.
• Moves over time. Vocal rides, reverb that opens on the hooks, delay throws and sweeps.
• Taste memory and styles. TineEQ keeps a list of what you like, which you can edit, and knows a set of artist and genre styles.
• Beat-with-vocal files. A two-track beat with the vocal on it is separated so the analysis works.
• Cleaner tuning. Notes that are already in tune pass through untouched.
• Coming: Graph mode, note-by-note editing. It is built and being tested, and it is not available yet.

What TineEQ is

TineEQ is one Audio Unit for Logic Pro with three modes, plus a small helper app that runs in the background.

Vocal

For vocal tracks. Live pitch correction, then EQ, de-essing, compression, drive and space (reverb and delay).

Track

For the beat and instruments. A tight channel strip that also listens for the song’s key.

Master

For the Stereo Out. A mastering chain with loudness metering.

Every TineEQ window has a prompt box called the Sound Engineer. You type what you want in plain language, and it reads the whole session, makes the changes, tells you what it did, and can take it all back in one step.

TineEQ works with Logic Pro on Apple Silicon and Intel Macs running macOS 14 or later. It needs a TineEQ Pro subscription; see Download for plans.

Install

1. Download the TineEQ installer, a file ending in .pkg.
2. Open it and follow the prompts. The installer is signed and notarised by Apple, so macOS opens it without warnings.

It installs two things:

• The plug-in, which Logic finds under Audio Units › Tine › TineEQ.
• The TineEQ app, the helper the plug-ins talk to. It starts by itself when you log in, so you do not need to open it each time.

If Logic was open during the install, quit and reopen it so it picks up the plug-in.

First-time setup

Two permissions let TineEQ work with Logic. You do this once.

1. Allow Accessibility

Open System Settings › Privacy & Security › Accessibility and turn on TineEQ. This is what lets TineEQ create and import tracks in Logic and start and stop playback. If you leave it off, TineEQ still works, but it cannot add tracks, and you may need to press play in Logic yourself. Restart TineEQ after switching it on.

2. Link Logic’s mixer

TineEQ moves Logic’s faders, pan and mute through a control surface called Tine Control. Logic usually detects it by itself. If it does not:

1. In Logic, choose Logic Pro › Control Surfaces › Setup.
2. Choose New › Install, pick Mackie Control, and click Add.
3. Set both the input and output ports to Tine Control.
4. Restart Logic.

3. Check the Setup view

Open the Setup view from the header of any TineEQ window. It lists what TineEQ needs and marks each item Done, Needed or Optional.

• TineEQ helper running. If it is not, open TineEQ from your Applications folder.
• AI available. Needs an internet connection.
• Logic mixer linked. The control surface from step 2.
• Track import (optional). The Accessibility permission from step 1. Without it, arrangements play inside TineEQ instead of as new tracks.
• Logic ready to record. Appears once Accessibility is on, and warns about anything in Logic that would get in the way of recording the song.

Setting up a session

TineEQ goes on every track and on the Stereo Out. Insert one TineEQ by hand (in a channel strip’s Audio FX slot, choose Audio Units › Tine › TineEQ), then type:

put TineEQ on every track

It adds TineEQ to every audio track and to the Stereo Out that does not have one yet. It skips MIDI, instrument, aux, bus and folder tracks, tells you what it skipped, and never moves or removes a plug-in you already have. It uses the first free slot. If another plug-in sits above TineEQ in a chain, it tells you, because Logic’s export then captures that track before that plug-in. For best results keep TineEQ first. You can still insert it by hand.

Set a mode on each: Vocal for vocals, Track for the beat and instruments, Master for the Stereo Out. You can also leave this to the engineer, which sets modes itself when it finishes a song.

Your track names do not need to mean anything. “Audio 1” is fine. TineEQ works out what each track is, lead vocal, adlibs, doubles or instrumental, by listening to the audio, and trusts that over the name.

Finish the song

Type finish the song in any TineEQ window. Here is what happens.

1. It listens. With the Logic driver, Logic exports every track as audio in seconds, much faster than playing the song. Without it, TineEQ records the song once while Logic plays it from the start, which takes as long as the song.
2. It maps the song. It finds the tempo, the key, the sections, and which tracks are vocals.
3. It places the hook. It copies the hook you recorded into the hook sections that have no vocals yet. It never goes over vocals you have already recorded.
4. It places adlibs. Adlibs go into the same spots in each hook.
5. It lines up doubles. Doubles and harmonies are aligned to the lead’s timing.
6. It tunes the vocals to the song’s key.
7. It mixes. Levels, EQ, compression, de-essing, space, balance and pan, then the moves over time: a ride on the vocal, reverb that opens on the hooks, and a delay throw at the end of each hook phrase.
8. It masters the Stereo Out to −14 LUFS with a −1 dBTP ceiling, the usual level for streaming. It measures the loudness from the exported tracks, without playing the song a second time.

When it is done it summarises what it found and changed, in plain words, including anything it could not do and anything that did not go through.

If your beat has the vocal on it

If a track is a two-track beat with the vocal already mixed in, or a bounce someone sent you, TineEQ separates it into drums, bass, other and vocals before it analyses the song, so the key, sections, hooks and takes come from the separated parts. The result says when this happened. Separation leaves some artefacts you may hear, so a vocal recorded on its own track is always better. You can also ask for the parts directly:

give me the stems of the beat track

New tracks, or playing inside TineEQ

The arrangement reaches you one of two ways.

• New tracks. With Accessibility on, TineEQ adds new tracks to your project with “(TineEQ)” in their names, such as “Hook (TineEQ)”, and mutes the originals they came from.
• Inside TineEQ. Without Accessibility, or if you ask for it (“keep the arrangement inside TineEQ”), nothing is added. The TineEQ on each source track plays the arranged audio in place of the live input while Logic plays. Use Bounce in Place on that track to make it permanent.

Either way, your original recordings are muted at most, never changed.

Undo

Everything TineEQ does in one job can be undone in one step: arrangements come off, any new tracks are removed, originals are unmuted and settings go back.

How to prompt

Write it the way you would tell a human engineer sitting next to you. You do not need special words. These are examples to copy and bend.

The whole job

finish the song

finish the song, but keep the arrangement inside TineEQ

just mix and master it, don’t touch the arrangement

Where things go

copy the hook into bars 61-73 only

put the hook in every chorus and the adlibs in the same spots

fewer adlibs in the last hook

preview the arrangement first

“Preview” shows the plan without changing anything, so you can check it before it happens.

Describe the sound

the vocal is buried, bring it forward and brighter

the beat is muddy under the hook

more space on the doubles, keep the lead dry

Tuning

hard autotune like Future on the hook, natural on the verses

Tuning is cleaner than before, and notes that are already in tune pass through untouched.

Timing

tighten the timing on the lead

line the double up with the lead

“Tighten” moves each phrase towards the beat grid by an amount you can name (“half way”, “all the way”). Phrases are moved whole, never stretched, and a phrase shorter than a beat is left alone. Moves bigger than 60 ms may be your feel, so TineEQ lists them and lets you keep them. Lining up a double shifts each phrase to match the lead by at most 80 ms, and reports the shift for each phrase. These arrive like the arrangement does, as new “(TineEQ)” tracks or played inside TineEQ, and undo in one step.

Moves over time

ride the lead vocal so it sits a touch over the beat

open the reverb on the hooks

throw the delay on the last word of each hook line

sweep the high-pass up into the drop in bars 33-41

drop the lead’s reverb in the second verse

These change a setting only over the bars you name or the sections TineEQ finds, with a short fade at each edge, and the setting returns to normal afterwards. A ride follows the vocal phrase by phrase, never more than a few dB. They play while Logic plays, are saved with your project, and Undo removes them.

Styles

make the vocal sound like Travis Scott

give it a lo-fi feel

amapiano mix

TineEQ has a fixed set of moves for each of these styles: Future, Playboi Carti, 50 Cent, Milky Chance, Travis Scott, Drake, Burna Boy, Lil Baby, radio clean, lo-fi, drill, afrobeats and amapiano. The same request gives the same starting point each time, adapted to your song.

How your mix compares

how does my mix compare

mix it like a trap record

/Users/me/Music/reference.wav, mix it like this

TineEQ compares your mix with commercial references and tells you what differs, in numbers and plain words, with the change it would make for each: for example the vocal sitting darker than the references, too much sibilance, a mix narrower than the references, or the beat covering the vocal. The reference genres are hip-hop (also trap, rap, drill and grime), afro house, amapiano and kuduro (also Angolan afro, semba and batida). To match a record you like, paste the file’s full path (wav, aiff, flac, mp3 or m4a). TineEQ listens to it on your Mac and keeps only its numbers, never the audio. It needs the song captured first, so run “finish the song” or any prompt that listens to the song.

Levels in one part of the song

the hook in bars 61-73 is too quiet

turn the adlibs down in the second verse

This changes only those bars, with a smooth fade at each edge. The rest of the track stays where it was, the change is saved with your project, and Undo takes it back.

Your takes

review my takes

should I redo the hook vocal?

TineEQ listens to each take and tells you, by bar, what it found: notes that sit off the key, timing that is clearly off the beat, clipping, takes recorded too quietly, or room noise between phrases. Each take gets a verdict: keep it, fix it in the mix (and how), or consider recording it again. It leans towards keeping a take, and it does not judge the pitch of rapped or spoken lines. Run “finish the song” first, or any prompt that has played the song through, so it has something to listen to.

Your taste

TineEQ notices what you ask for and keep, such as drier vocals, hard tuning on hooks or a louder master, and remembers it across songs. It treats these as leanings, not orders. To see the list, open Setup and choose What I’ve learned about your taste. Each line has a delete button. If you undo a request, TineEQ does not learn from it.

Mastering

master for streaming

master louder, around -10 LUFS

“For streaming” means −14 LUFS and a −1 dBTP ceiling. If you name a different loudness, it uses that.

Questions, no changes

Read only, change nothing: what key is the song in?

Tips

• One intent per prompt. “Brighter vocal” and “master louder” are better as two prompts.
• Listen, then follow up. Play what it did, then say what to change.
• Undo freely. It is one step, so try things.
• Use the names Logic shows if two tracks could be confused.

Checking its work

Every TineEQ window lets you check what the engineer did and why, before you decide to keep it.

Compare

The Compare button plays your session without the last request’s changes while you hold it, and with them when you let go. It covers plug-in settings, section levels, moves over time and Logic’s faders and pan. It does not cover new tracks, mutes, arrangements or the TineEQ it inserted on the Stereo Out. If TineEQ could not set everything aside or put it back, it says so in plain words.

Details

Open Details on a request to see each change with the engineer’s one-line reason, such as “cut 300 Hz: mud under the beat”.

Measured while playing

After a request changes something, TineEQ shows before and after numbers for what moved: loudness on the Stereo Out, tonal balance on a vocal it touched, and how far the vocal sits above the beat. It lists only numbers that moved enough to matter. It can only measure while Logic is playing, so with the transport stopped you will not see them.

When something did not go through

TineEQ only reports a change after it has checked that it happened. If a step failed, the summary says which one, and does not claim it as done.

While TineEQ works

With the Logic driver, Logic exports the tracks in seconds instead of playing them, and finishing a whole song usually takes five to seven minutes, most of it the engineer working through the mix. If TineEQ falls back to recording the song as it plays, add the length of the song to that. Either way, until it is done:

• Leave Logic alone. Do not press keys or move things while it exports or plays the song. If the Inspector is hidden, TineEQ opens it when it needs it and hides it again, so you do not need to show it.
• Do not change the audio output or input device, or the buffer size. Logic reloads every plug-in when you do, and the recording stops. TineEQ tells you if this happens.
• Make sure no region is set to Loop. A looping region plays past the end of the song, so the recording never finishes. Turn Loop off on the region.
• Turn down the microphone. If the selected track is record-enabled and listens to a microphone, turn the mic gain down so it is not recorded into the song. Selecting the Stereo Out also avoids this.
• Answer any alert in Logic first. An open dialog blocks playback.

The “Logic ready to record” row in Setup warns about most of these before you start.

Troubleshooting

“Logic mixer not linked”

The Tine Control surface is not set up. Follow the control surface steps in First-time setup, with both ports set to Tine Control, and restart Logic.

“AI unavailable”

TineEQ cannot reach the AI service. Check your internet connection. If the helper is not running, open TineEQ from your Applications folder.

Two surfaces named “Mackie Control #2” or a duplicate Mackie Control

The mixer link can stop working if Logic has the control surface twice. In Logic, choose Logic Pro › Control Surfaces › Setup, remove the duplicate Mackie Control #2 so one remains, set its ports to Tine Control, and restart Logic.

A track has plug-ins above TineEQ

Logic’s export captures that track before those plug-ins, so what TineEQ hears is not what you hear. Drag TineEQ to the first slot in the chain. “Put TineEQ on every track” tells you when it finds this.

Accessibility is off

TineEQ cannot create tracks, and arrangements play inside TineEQ instead. Turn TineEQ on in System Settings › Privacy & Security › Accessibility, then restart TineEQ. If it is not listed, add it with the + button.

Playback did not start

An alert is probably open in Logic. Answer it, then try again. If TineEQ cannot start Logic itself, press play from the start of the song.

The recording stopped early

The audio device or buffer size changed, so Logic reloaded the plug-ins. Leave those alone and run it again.

Undo could not revert something

TineEQ says what it could not put back. Try the undo again, or fix that one item by hand.

Using TineEQ in GarageBand

TineEQ works in GarageBand, which comes free on every Mac. The sound is the same as in Logic Pro: Vocal, Track and Master modes, the tuning, the vocal chain and the mastering are all there.

Putting TineEQ on a track

Select the track, open Smart Controls (press B), open Plug-ins, click an empty slot and choose Audio Units > TineEQ > TineEQ. Put it on every track you want the Sound Engineer to hear: the beat and each vocal.

Mastering

Choose Track > Show Master Track, select the master track, open Smart Controls, click Master, then Plug-ins, and add TineEQ there. The Sound Engineer sets it to Master mode.

What the Sound Engineer does here

It works as your advisor. It sets TineEQ’s own controls on every track: tuning, EQ, compression, de-essing, reverb and delay, levels through TineEQ’s own output, moves over time, and the master. It never touches GarageBand itself, so a few things stay with you, and it tells you exactly what to do: GarageBand’s own volume and pan, adding TineEQ to a track, new tracks, and moving regions.

Letting it listen

To mix a whole song it has to hear it once. When it asks, press play from the start and let the song play through. It stops listening a few seconds after the music ends, or when you press stop. Leave record and monitoring off while it listens.

Only in Logic Pro

Graph mode (fixing single notes), arranging takes, duplicating tracks and moving Logic’s faders for you need Logic Pro. In GarageBand, “finish the song” tunes, mixes and masters; hooks and ad-libs stay where you recorded them.

Privacy

Your audio stays on your Mac. Nothing is uploaded. The AI model only receives text descriptions of what TineEQ measured, such as levels, tempo, key and section layout, along with what you type.

Known limitations

• TineEQ assumes a constant tempo. Songs with tempo changes are not supported yet.
• Tuning on very low voices can sound grainier than Antares.
• Note-by-note editing (Graph mode) is coming. It is built and being tested, and is not available yet.
• Songs separated from a two-track beat carry some artefacts. A vocal recorded on its own track is better.