diff --git a/packages/core/src/runtime/media.test.ts b/packages/core/src/runtime/media.test.ts
index c6fa207ed8..bf697161b8 100644
--- a/packages/core/src/runtime/media.test.ts
+++ b/packages/core/src/runtime/media.test.ts
@@ -365,6 +365,37 @@ describe("syncRuntimeMedia", () => {
       expect(only).toBeCloseTo(0.55, 5);
     });
 
+    /**
+     * The render bakes the lane at CLIP-LOCAL time: prepareAudioTrack already
+     * cut the wav with `-ss mediaStart`, so its t=0 is the clip's start, and
+     * normaliseEnvelope subtracts trackStart. Preview used to sample at MEDIA
+     * time — mediaStart included, scaled by playbackRate, wrapped on a loop — so
+     * the same envelope played somewhere else than it rendered.
+     */
+    it("samples the lane at clip-local time, the way the render bakes it", () => {
+      const trimmed = (t: number) => {
+        const clip = createMockClip({ start: 0, end: 10, volume: 0.55, mediaStart: 30 });
+        Object.defineProperty(clip.el, "readyState", { value: 4, writable: true });
+        clip.el.setAttribute("data-automation", DUCK);
+        let seen = -1;
+        syncRuntimeMedia({
+          clips: [clip],
+          timeSeconds: t,
+          playing: true,
+          playbackRate: 1,
+          onElementVolume: (_el, v) => {
+            seen = v;
+          },
+        });
+        return seen;
+      };
+      // `data-media-start="30"` on a clip whose lane holds 0.8 until t=2 then
+      // ducks to 0.1 by t=3. At media time the playhead is already 30 s past the
+      // last point, so preview held 0.1 from the first frame and never ducked.
+      expect(trimmed(1)).toBeCloseTo(0.8, 5);
+      expect(trimmed(5)).toBeCloseTo(0.1, 5);
+    });
+
     it("supersedes keyframes probed from the timeline", () => {
       // Both present: the lane is the explicit one, and `lint` warns about it.
       const clip = createMockClip({ start: 0, end: 10, volume: 0.55 });
diff --git a/packages/core/src/runtime/media.ts b/packages/core/src/runtime/media.ts
index 8dabe8c37b..a6aa4c2183 100644
--- a/packages/core/src/runtime/media.ts
+++ b/packages/core/src/runtime/media.ts
@@ -274,7 +274,15 @@ export function syncRuntimeMedia(params: {
       // An explicit volume lane owns the fader. It is checked before the probed
       // keyframes because the two would otherwise fight, and it is the one the
       // author drew — `lint` warns when a track carries both.
-      const laneGain = elementVolumeLaneGain(el, relTime);
+      // Clip-local, NOT `relTime`. A lane's `t` is "seconds from the start of
+      // the clip" (see HfAutomationPoint), and the render honours that: the wav
+      // is already cut with `-ss mediaStart`, so its t=0 IS the clip's start.
+      // `relTime` is MEDIA time — it carries mediaStart, scales by playbackRate
+      // and wraps on a loop — so feeding it here played the envelope at a
+      // different position than it renders, or ran it off the end entirely on a
+      // trimmed clip. The FX lanes on this same feature use clip-local elapsed;
+      // there is one time base, and this is it.
+      const laneGain = elementVolumeLaneGain(el, params.timeSeconds - clip.start);
       if (laneGain !== null) {
         authorVolume = clampVolume(laneGain);
       } else if (clip.volumeKeyframes && clip.volumeKeyframes.length > 0) {