Fairlight Live

Live video production has evolved rapidly with multi-camera setups, immersive formats, and IP workflows, but professional audio tools haven't kept pace. Broadcast engineers and live audio mixers often bolt together separate hardware mixers, control surfaces and routing systems that sit awkwardly alongside their video workflow. Fairlight Live set out to fix this by delivering a complete live audio solution that complements Blackmagic Design's existing live video production tools.The challenge was combining software flexibility with hands-on hardware control in a single product, and mapping a deeply featured application across touch, buttons, faders and knobs without overwhelming operators under pressure.

Early consultation with broadcast engineers and live audio mixers shaped which features to prioritise, and a full working prototype tested workflows and interactions in real-world contexts before anything was committed to hardware.Deciding what an operator needs most under pressure drove constant trade-offs: which controls earn a dedicated button, which live on a touch panel, which stay behind a menu. High-contrast colours, clear state indicators and optimised touch targets keep critical information readable in low-light venues. Metering stays permanently visible, and consistent Focus Screens maintain predictable control layouts across input methods.

Fairlight Live extends Blackmagic Design's post-production expertise into live production for the first time, delivered as a free desktop application paired with dedicated hardware mixing consoles in multiple sizes. The software alone makes professional live audio tools available to productions that couldn't previously afford them.For engineers already working in the Fairlight ecosystem, adding live production requires no relearning. For ATEM users, it brings integrated audio capability that wasn't there before. The ambisonic support and Vision Pro optimisation put Fairlight Live at the leading edge of immersive live broadcast, a format that's growing fast.

Fairlight Live integrates directly with Blackmagic Design's ATEM live production switchers, extending the ATEM ecosystem with professional audio capabilities, creating a tightly integrated workflow that scales from small productions to large multi-camera broadcasts.It's optimised for immersive audio on Apple Vision Pro, with a signal chain and routing architecture that supports ambisonic formats. Developed alongside the Blackmagic URSA Cine Immersive camera, it completes an end-to-end immersive production workflow within the Blackmagic ecosystem.Fairlight Live operates across five distinct modes.- Primary mode provides full system control.- Failsafe mode mirrors the primary system on a secondary machine, taking over if the primary fails to keep program feeds uninterrupted.- Prep mode allows shows to be built and tested offline without affecting the live system.- On-Air mode locks critical functions during broadcast to prevent accidental disruption.- Remote mode supports multiple operators on separate computers, allowing engineers to manage aspects of the mix independently.IP audio support means signals can be sent and received over a standard network, so sources and hardware no longer need to share a physical location—enabling distributed production workflows.Virtual Soundcheck lets engineers record a show and play it back to rehearse mixes, trial plugins, and refine without the original sources.