For those who don’t know the tool: Fairlight Live is a standalone live audio mixer from Blackmagic Design. It sits beside DaVinci Resolve Fairlight post tools and ATEM switchers, covering live broadcast, streaming, venue, podcast and rehearsal audio rather than timeline finishing.
Fairlight Live 1.0 is a free standalone mixer for live audio production on macOS and Windows. It uses the Fairlight audio engine and supports mono, stereo, LCR, 5.1 surround, immersive formats and ASAF. The application is designed for software operation, dedicated Fairlight Live panels, Mackie MCU control surfaces and tablet control via OSC.
The mixer supports Core Audio on macOS, System Audio and ASIO on Windows, plus USB and Thunderbolt audio devices. It also supports SMPTE 2110 audio workflows, which puts it closer to broadcast infrastructure than the average laptop podcast rig. Sensible, but also assuming the network has been built by someone who labels cables.
ATEM, AFV and show control
The application connects to ATEM live production switchers over USB-C for audio exchange and control. Audio Follows Video can assign camera selection across channels, busses and VCAs, with level control before the fader, fade curves and hold times.
For broadcast work, the feature set includes On-Air mode, mix-minus busses, talkback groups, studio and control-room monitoring, PFL and AFL solo logic, VCA groups, input delay for lip sync, remote gain and an internal signal generator for calibration. Snapshots store mixer state for recall during live segments.
Cues, plug-ins and spatial formats
The cue player supports 16 audio cues for jingles, carts and stingers, plus 16 MIDI cues for external hardware. That covers the practical end of live show control, where somebody always wants the sting, the light and the chaos on the same button.
Channels include EQ, dynamics and panning. Fairlight Live supports third-party Audio Units and VST plug-ins, with four plug-in slots per channel and ChainFX expansion up to 24 plug-ins per channel. Support for spatial audio includes ambisonics and Apple Spatial Audio Format, also known as ASAF.
Version 1.0 limits
Version 1.0 includes Primary mode. Failsafe, Prep and Remote modes are marked as “not included” in this version. Usually, BMD will publish those soon, and those features get the crap beaten out of them in testing and QC as you read this.
Minimum requirements are macOS 15 Sequoia or later on Apple Silicon with 8 GB of memory, or Windows 10 Creators Update with 8 GB of memory. Core Audio, ASIO and 2110 interfaces are listed as compatible.
https://www.blackmagicdesign.com/products/fairlightlive
https://www.blackmagicdesign.com/products/fairlightlive/techspecs
Panels and pricing
Fairlight Live is a free download. Dedicated hardware panels are priced at $2,415 for Fairlight Live Audio Panel 10, $3,845 for Fairlight Live Audio Panel 20 and $8,245 for Fairlight Live Audio Panel 40. The panels provide 10, 20 or 40 motorized faders, touchscreen displays, talkback controls and 2110 IP audio connectivity. Read all about those here:
