Blackmagic Fairlight Live troubleshooting

Common Fairlight Live errors & problems

What techs run into most, and what's usually behind it. The step-by-step fix for your exact software is in Ask Roadie.

• AFV is killing sources it should not — crowd mics, music, or a remote guest drop out when the camera cuts away

  Likely cause: AFV's default Off Level is -∞ (full off), so any channel assigned to a camera is hard-gated by the switcher.

  Step-by-step fixGet the fix →

• ATEM switcher audio does not appear in Fairlight Live over USB-C, or AFV cameras are not listed

  Likely cause: ATEM USB audio is a feature of ATEM Switchers 10.3; a switcher on 10.2 or earlier enumerates as a USB device but offers no audio path, so the mixer sees nothing.

  Step-by-step fixGet the fix →

• Audio drifting out of sync with video, or two feeds of the same source arriving at different times

  Likely cause: Channel delay fixes a path-length or processing offset; PTP fixes a clock-domain offset.

  Step-by-step fixGet the fix →

• Commentator/remote guest hears their own voice back, echo or feedback in their IFB, or needs to talk when their fader is down

  Likely cause: Mix-minus removes the talent's own mic from their return, which is what kills the echo/feedback loop and the disorienting delayed-own-voice effect from processing or satellite/remote links.

  Step-by-step fixGet the fix →

• Fairlight Live crashes on startup, or a third-party plug-in has gone missing from the effects list

  Likely cause: The auto-blacklist is a protection mechanism, so "my plug-in disappeared" is usually Fairlight Live telling you that plug-in crashed the scan rather than a bug in Fairlight Live.

  Step-by-step fixGet the fix →

• Fairlight Live will not install / launch, or is rejected by the computer — what are the actual minimum requirements?

  Likely cause: Fairlight Live 1.x is Apple Silicon native only on Mac; there is no Rosetta/Intel build, which is the single most common "it won't install" cause on older Mac Pros and 2019-era iMacs still in rental inventory.

  Step-by-step fixGet the fix →

• Latency too high for talent monitoring, or clicks/pops/dropouts in the mix under load

  Likely cause: Fairlight Live's through-latency can be 5 ms or less input-to-output on a capable host, but the buffer is a trade against CPU headroom, and look-ahead plug-ins add latency the buffer setting cannot recover.

  Step-by-step fixGet the fix →

• Loudness is out of spec / which loudness standard do I select and what do the numbers mean?

  Likely cause: Integrated LUFS is the value QC actually checks, and it accumulates — an un-reset meter from rehearsal will read wrong on air.

  Step-by-step fixGet the fix →

• Multiple interfaces needed on one Mac, or aggregate device is running at higher latency than expected

  Likely cause: Aggregation is an OS-level workaround, and the buffer penalty is imposed by Core Audio, not by Fairlight Live.

  Step-by-step fixGet the fix →

• Need to rehearse, re-balance or train after the band/talent have gone home

  Likely cause: Recordings and their media are stored inside the Show folder package, so a Show copied to the backup machine carries its VSC material with it.

  Step-by-step fixGet the fix →

• No audio in or out of Fairlight Live — interface shows up in the OS but nothing meters

  Likely cause: Fairlight Live separates device selection (Preferences > Audio I/O) from signal patching (Input Select / Patch Matrix).

  Step-by-step fixGet the fix →

• Planning a Fairlight Live rig for a paid show — what is the redundancy and pre-flight discipline?

  Likely cause: Modes are a product feature; the failure-domain and version-lock discipline is standard pro-AV practice and is not enforced by the software.

  Step-by-step fixGet the fix →

Not on the list? Describe it your way, or paste the error code off the display. Ask Roadie works the problem with you until it's fixed or you have a clear next move.

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