diff --git a/Services/Audio/AudioClock.cs b/Services/Audio/AudioClock.cs
index 50ee97e..1cbbbff 100644
--- a/Services/Audio/AudioClock.cs
+++ b/Services/Audio/AudioClock.cs
@@ -31,4 +31,13 @@ public static class AudioClock
         var debt = expected - framesProduced;
         return (int)Math.Clamp(debt, 0L, maxFrames);
     }
+
+    /// <summary>
+    /// Advance the produced count for frames that actually reached the encoder. A write that went
+    /// nowhere (ffmpeg had not connected yet) must stay owed: counting it would shorten the track by
+    /// that gap — measured 2026-11-12 on the first clock-driven recording, where 27 start-up drops made
+    /// the audio 226 ms <i>short</i> after the same bug had made it 224 ms long.
+    /// </summary>
+    public static long Advance(long framesProduced, int frames, bool wrote)
+        => framesProduced + (wrote ? frames : 0);
 }
diff --git a/Services/Audio/AudioMixer.cs b/Services/Audio/AudioMixer.cs
index 90aa2cc..e773b22 100644
--- a/Services/Audio/AudioMixer.cs
+++ b/Services/Audio/AudioMixer.cs
@@ -402,7 +402,7 @@ public sealed class AudioMixer : IDisposable
         // any scheduler error into a permanent A/V rate error (measured 2026-11-12: 2.1% fast, 224 ms
         // of drift in ten seconds); asking the clock how much is owed and producing exactly that keeps
         // the track the same length as the show.
-        var clock = Stopwatch.StartNew();
+        Stopwatch? clock = null;
         long framesProduced = 0;
         var maxChunkFrames = micChunk.Length;
 
@@ -411,6 +411,15 @@ public sealed class AudioMixer : IDisposable
             var nextTick = DateTime.UtcNow + _mixInterval;
             try
             {
+                // The clock starts when ffmpeg is actually reading. Before that there is nowhere for
+                // audio to go, and time spent waiting must not become a shorter track.
+                if (!pipe.IsConnected)
+                {
+                    await Task.Delay(1, cancellationToken).ConfigureAwait(false);
+                    continue;
+                }
+
+                clock ??= Stopwatch.StartNew();
                 var frames = AudioClock.FramesDue(
                     clock.Elapsed.TotalSeconds, framesProduced, OutputSampleRate, maxChunkFrames);
                 if (frames <= 0)
@@ -421,7 +430,6 @@ public sealed class AudioMixer : IDisposable
                 }
 
                 var (_, micDrained, loopDrained) = FillAndMix(micChunk, loopbackChunk, mixBuffer, frames);
-                framesProduced += frames;
                 var samples = frames * 2;
 
                 // Negative offset: skip the armed |N| ms of stream head. The pipe
@@ -436,9 +444,10 @@ public sealed class AudioMixer : IDisposable
                     writeFrom = drop;
                 }
 
-                if (writeFrom < samples)
-                    await pipe.WriteAsync(mixBuffer.AsMemory(writeFrom, samples - writeFrom),
-                        cancellationToken).ConfigureAwait(false);
+                var wrote = writeFrom >= samples
+                            || await pipe.WriteAsync(mixBuffer.AsMemory(writeFrom, samples - writeFrom),
+                                cancellationToken).ConfigureAwait(false);
+                framesProduced = AudioClock.Advance(framesProduced, frames, wrote);
 
                 _micDrainedTotal += micDrained;
                 _loopDrainedTotal += loopDrained;
diff --git a/Services/Audio/NamedPipeAudioWriter.cs b/Services/Audio/NamedPipeAudioWriter.cs
index 0b872dd..6dcb33a 100644
--- a/Services/Audio/NamedPipeAudioWriter.cs
+++ b/Services/Audio/NamedPipeAudioWriter.cs
@@ -23,8 +23,10 @@ public interface IAudioPipeWriter : IDisposable
     /// connected to the pipe.</summary>
     long DroppedWrites { get; }
 
-    /// <summary>Writes interleaved float samples; dropped until the client connects.</summary>
-    Task WriteAsync(ReadOnlyMemory<float> samples, CancellationToken cancellationToken = default);
+    /// <summary>Writes interleaved float samples. Returns false when nothing was written because the
+    /// client has not connected or the pipe is closed — the caller must not count that audio as
+    /// produced, or a start-up gap silently shortens the track.</summary>
+    Task<bool> WriteAsync(ReadOnlyMemory<float> samples, CancellationToken cancellationToken = default);
 
     /// <summary>Closes the server end — ffmpeg sees EOF and ends the audio input.</summary>
     void Stop();
@@ -65,7 +67,7 @@ public sealed class NamedPipeAudioWriter : IAudioPipeWriter
         }
     }
 
-    public async Task WriteAsync(ReadOnlyMemory<float> samples, CancellationToken cancellationToken = default)
+    public async Task<bool> WriteAsync(ReadOnlyMemory<float> samples, CancellationToken cancellationToken = default)
     {
         NamedPipeServerStream? pipe;
         lock (_sync)
@@ -76,11 +78,12 @@ public sealed class NamedPipeAudioWriter : IAudioPipeWriter
         {
             if (pipe?.IsConnected == false || pipe == null)
                 DroppedWrites++;
-            return;
+            return false;
         }
 
         var bytes = MemoryMarshal.AsBytes(samples.Span).ToArray();
         await pipe.WriteAsync(bytes, cancellationToken).ConfigureAwait(false);
+        return true;
     }
 
     public void Stop()
diff --git a/docs/ai/output.md b/docs/ai/output.md
index b1b5a29..ff3c444 100644
--- a/docs/ai/output.md
+++ b/docs/ai/output.md
@@ -308,6 +308,9 @@ devices, no timers).
   the lips across ten seconds and no static delay could fix it. Buffers size to the largest chunk the
   planner may return (`OutputSampleRate / 5`), and a stalled loop pays its debt over the following ticks
   rather than dumping one huge write. Video never had this bug — the pump paces off a stopwatch.
+  **The clock also starts only once ffmpeg is connected, and `Advance` counts a frame only when its write
+  reached the pipe**: the first clock-driven recording came out **226 ms short** because 27 start-up
+  writes were dropped before the encoder connected, which is the same desync wearing the opposite sign.
 - **TRAX — free background music (TASK 8):** `MusicPlayer` = NAudio `MediaFoundationReader`
   (mp3/wav/m4a) → `VolumeWaveProvider16` at the hardcoded **0.20** bed (no slider) → `WaveOutEvent` on
   the default device, **looping on any clean natural end** (`PlaybackStopped` with `e.Exception == null`
diff --git a/ytLive.Tests/AudioClockTests.cs b/ytLive.Tests/AudioClockTests.cs
index 4eac890..79a812f 100644
--- a/ytLive.Tests/AudioClockTests.cs
+++ b/ytLive.Tests/AudioClockTests.cs
@@ -46,5 +46,14 @@ public class AudioClockTests
         // And a stalled loop pays its debt off gradually rather than dumping it in one write.
         Assert.Equal(maxChunk, AudioClock.FramesDue(5.0, 0, rate, maxChunk));
         Assert.Equal(0, AudioClock.FramesDue(5.0, rate * 5, rate, maxChunk));
+
+        // Audio that never reached the encoder stays owed. Counting it would shorten the track by the
+        // start-up gap — the mirror image of the drift this clock exists to prevent (27 dropped start-up
+        // writes made the first clock-driven recording 226 ms short).
+        var produced2 = 0L;
+        for (var i = 0; i < 27; i++)
+            produced2 = AudioClock.Advance(produced2, 480, wrote: false);
+        Assert.Equal(0, produced2);
+        Assert.Equal(480, AudioClock.Advance(produced2, 480, wrote: true));
     }
 }