diff --git a/services/capture/deltacast-bridge/main.c b/services/capture/deltacast-bridge/main.c
index 9c12c54..c184c50 100644
--- a/services/capture/deltacast-bridge/main.c
+++ b/services/capture/deltacast-bridge/main.c
@@ -276,6 +276,42 @@ static void *audio_thread(void *arg) {
         }
         fcntl(fd, F_SETPIPE_SZ, 1024 * 1024);
 
+        /* ── Flush the VHD audio slot backlog to the LIVE edge ──────────────
+         * While no reader is attached (recorder idle/standby), the open() above
+         * blocks but the VHD audio stream keeps running, so its internal slot
+         * queue fills with buffered audio. Without flushing, the first thing a
+         * newly-attached reader (the record ffmpeg) receives is that backlog —
+         * several seconds of stale/sync-warmup audio that plays as leading
+         * silence and pushes the audio stream out of alignment with the live
+         * video. Drain all immediately-available slots (non-blocking via the
+         * SDK timeout) so we hand the reader the LIVE edge, frame-aligned with
+         * the video that fc_pipe is delivering right now. */
+        if (have_vhd_audio) {
+            /* Drain the QUEUED backlog only: keep discarding slots while each
+             * lock returns FAST (the board hands back already-buffered slots in
+             * well under a frame period). The first lock that takes ~a full frame
+             * period means the queue is empty and we're now waiting on a LIVE
+             * slot — at that point we've reached the live edge, so stop WITHOUT
+             * consuming it (the inner loop will pick it up and write it). */
+            const long fast_ns = frame_ns / 2;     /* "immediate" threshold */
+            int flushed = 0;
+            for (;;) {
+                struct timespec a, b;
+                clock_gettime(CLOCK_MONOTONIC, &a);
+                HANDLE fslot = NULL;
+                ULONG fr = VHD_LockSlotHandle(stream, &fslot);
+                clock_gettime(CLOCK_MONOTONIC, &b);
+                if (fr != VHDERR_NOERROR) break;   /* TIMEOUT/error => drained */
+                long lock_ns = (b.tv_sec - a.tv_sec) * 1000000000L + (b.tv_nsec - a.tv_nsec);
+                VHD_UnlockSlotHandle(fslot);
+                if (lock_ns >= fast_ns) break;     /* waited for a live slot => stop */
+                if (++flushed > 8192) break;       /* hard safety cap */
+            }
+            if (flushed > 0)
+                fprintf(stderr, "[audio:%u] flushed %d stale slots on reader attach\n",
+                        ps->port, flushed);
+        }
+
         /* Reset wall-clock baseline after potentially blocking on open().
          * Only used for the SILENCE fallback path (no hardware audio). */
         struct timespec next;