diff --git a/Services/Audio/MusicPlayer.cs b/Services/Audio/MusicPlayer.cs
index 70acb53..afe209b 100644
--- a/Services/Audio/MusicPlayer.cs
+++ b/Services/Audio/MusicPlayer.cs
@@ -25,6 +25,17 @@ public sealed class MusicPlayer : ITraxPlayer
     /// ~−15..−20 LUFS — beside the leveled voice (≈ −17 LUFS), and well under it when ducked.</para></summary>
     public const float MusicVolume = 0.5f;
 
+    /// <summary>+6 dB of headroom on the bed, matching the dock's fader range.</summary>
+    public const float MaxUserGain = 2f;
+
+    /// <summary>The effective multiplier for a (user, local) pair, computed in ONE place.
+    ///
+    /// <para>The fader used to set the OUTPUT DEVICE's volume, which NAudio's WaveOut ignores, while
+    /// the mute-follow rewrote the sample-chain volume without the user gain — so pegging the fader
+    /// changed nothing and then lost the setting at the next duck.</para></summary>
+    public static float EffectiveVolume(float userGain, float localGain)
+        => MusicVolume * Math.Clamp(userGain, 0f, MaxUserGain) * Math.Clamp(localGain, 0f, 1f);
+
     private MediaFoundationReader? _reader;
     private VolumeWaveProvider16? _volume;
     private WaveOutEvent? _output;
@@ -56,8 +67,8 @@ public sealed class MusicPlayer : ITraxPlayer
         get => _userGain;
         set
         {
-            _userGain = Math.Clamp(value, 0f, 2f);
-            if (_output != null) _output.Volume = MusicVolume * _userGain * LocalGain;
+            _userGain = Math.Clamp(value, 0f, MaxUserGain);
+            ApplyVolume();
         }
     }
 
@@ -67,11 +78,18 @@ public sealed class MusicPlayer : ITraxPlayer
         set
         {
             _localGain = Math.Clamp(value, 0f, 1f);
-            if (_volume != null)
-                _volume.Volume = MusicVolume * _localGain;
+            ApplyVolume();
         }
     }
 
+    /// <summary>Pushes the current gains onto the sample chain. The meter sits AFTER this stage, so
+    /// the ladder follows the fader — that is the point of both controls being on the same bay.</summary>
+    private void ApplyVolume()
+    {
+        if (_volume != null)
+            _volume.Volume = EffectiveVolume(_userGain, _localGain);
+    }
+
     /// <summary>Loads a track and prepares playback (does not start it).</summary>
     public void Load(string path)
     {
@@ -81,7 +99,7 @@ public sealed class MusicPlayer : ITraxPlayer
         Stop();
         TrackPath = path;
         _reader = new MediaFoundationReader(path);
-        _volume = new VolumeWaveProvider16(_reader) { Volume = MusicVolume * _userGain * _localGain };
+        _volume = new VolumeWaveProvider16(_reader) { Volume = EffectiveVolume(_userGain, _localGain) };
         _metering = new MeteringSampleProvider(_volume.ToSampleProvider());
         _metering.StreamVolume += (_, e) =>
             Level = Helpers.MeterScale.NextLevel(Level,
diff --git a/ytLive.Tests/MusicLevelTests.cs b/ytLive.Tests/MusicLevelTests.cs
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..8f393c6
--- /dev/null
+++ b/ytLive.Tests/MusicLevelTests.cs
@@ -0,0 +1,35 @@
+using Xunit;
+using ytLive.Services.Audio;
+
+namespace ytLive.Tests;
+
+/// <summary>The TRAX fader must actually change the level the meter measures — and it did not:
+/// `UserGain` wrote to the output device's volume (a no-op for NAudio's WaveOut), while the
+/// mute-follow rewrote the sample-chain volume WITHOUT the user gain, so pegging the fader changed
+/// nothing and the next desktop mute/duck silently discarded the setting.
+/// </summary>
+public class MusicLevelTests
+{
+    [Fact]
+    public void The_trax_fader_reaches_the_chain_and_survives_the_mute_follow()
+    {
+        // Default: the bed sits at the design volume; pegging doubles it (+6 dB).
+        Assert.Equal(0.5f, MusicPlayer.EffectiveVolume(1f, 1f), 3);
+        Assert.Equal(1.0f, MusicPlayer.EffectiveVolume(MusicPlayer.MaxUserGain, 1f), 3);
+
+        // The mute-follow multiplies, it does not replace: the user gain survives.
+        Assert.Equal(1.0f, MusicPlayer.EffectiveVolume(MusicPlayer.MaxUserGain, 1f), 3);
+        Assert.Equal(0.5f, MusicPlayer.EffectiveVolume(1f, 1f), 3);
+
+        // Muted (or a desktop mute) is silence whatever the fader says.
+        Assert.Equal(0f, MusicPlayer.EffectiveVolume(MusicPlayer.MaxUserGain, 0f));
+
+        // And the floor is a real zero, not a residue.
+        Assert.Equal(0f, MusicPlayer.EffectiveVolume(0f, 1f));
+
+        // The old defect cannot come back: nothing may drive the output device's volume.
+        var source = SourceAssert.Text("Services", "Audio", "MusicPlayer.cs");
+        Assert.DoesNotContain("_output.Volume", source);
+        Assert.Contains("EffectiveVolume(_userGain, _localGain)", source);
+    }
+}