diff --git a/daily_sunrise_video.sh b/daily_sunrise_video.sh
index 4b45c70..cba0e87 100644
--- a/daily_sunrise_video.sh
+++ b/daily_sunrise_video.sh
@@ -56,7 +56,8 @@ fi
 
 temp_list=$(mktemp --suffix=.txt)
 raw_video=""
-trap 'rm -f "$temp_list" "$raw_video" 2>/dev/null || true' EXIT
+temp_audio=""
+trap 'rm -f "$temp_list" "$raw_video" "$temp_audio" 2>/dev/null || true' EXIT
 
 find "$image_dir" -type f -name "*.jpg" | sort | while read -r img; do
     img_sec=$(time_to_seconds "$(basename "$img" .jpg)")
@@ -139,11 +140,15 @@ DT="${DT}:line_spacing=4"
 DT="${DT}:x=w-tw-18:y=(h-th)/2"
 DT="${DT}:shadowcolor=black@0.55:shadowx=1:shadowy=1"
 
-# ── Step 3: Overlay + optional audio ─────────────────────────────────────────
-# Priority: (1) camera mic recording, (2) library fallback, (3) no audio.
-# If audio mixing fails, step 3 retries with overlay-only so the video is
-# always made.  If overlay itself fails, the sped video is promoted so upload
-# still fires.
+# ── Step 3: Audio mix + overlay — each independently optional/fallible ────────
+# Step 3a: mixes audio into a temp copy of the sped video (video stream is
+#          copied, not re-encoded — fast, and lets step 3b fail independently).
+# Step 3b: burns the overlay onto whatever 3a produced.
+# Failure matrix → upload always fires:
+#   audio ✓  overlay ✓  → final has audio + overlay
+#   audio ✓  overlay ✗  → final has audio,   no overlay
+#   audio ✗  overlay ✓  → final has overlay, no audio
+#   audio ✗  overlay ✗  → sped video promoted (no audio, no overlay)
 final_video="$output_dir/$current_date-daily-sunrise.mp4"
 fade_out=$(echo "scale=1; $SUNRISE_TARGET_SECS - 0.5" | bc)
 
@@ -154,13 +159,11 @@ audio_offset="0"
 cam_audio="$image_dir/sunrise-audio.m4a"
 if [ "${AUDIO_ENABLED:-false}" = "true" ]; then
     if [ -f "$cam_audio" ]; then
-        # Camera recording: offset centres the clip on actual sunrise
         buffer_sec=$(( ${AUDIO_PRE_BUFFER_MIN:-2} * 60 ))
         audio_offset=$(echo "scale=1; $SUNRISE_PRE_MIN * 60 + $buffer_sec - $SUNRISE_TARGET_SECS / 2" | bc)
         audio_src="$cam_audio"
         echo "Audio: camera recording  offset=${audio_offset}s"
     else
-        # Library fallback: random file from sunrise-sounds/
         library_dir="$SCRIPT_DIR/sunrise-sounds"
         if [ -d "$library_dir" ]; then
             random_file=$(find "$library_dir" -name "*.mp3" | shuf -n 1 2>/dev/null || true)
@@ -172,48 +175,55 @@ if [ "${AUDIO_ENABLED:-false}" = "true" ]; then
     fi
 fi
 
-# ── Attempt overlay + audio (falls back to overlay-only if audio fails) ───────
-audio_mixed=false
-step3_ok=true
+# ── Step 3a: mix audio (video copied, not re-encoded) ────────────────────────
+work_video="$sped_video"
+has_audio=false
 
 if [ -n "$audio_src" ]; then
-    echo "Step 3/3: overlay + audio → $final_video"
+    temp_audio=$(mktemp --suffix=.mp4)
+    echo "Step 3a/3: mixing audio → temp"
     if ffmpeg -loglevel warning \
         -i "$sped_video" \
         -ss "$audio_offset" -t "$SUNRISE_TARGET_SECS" -i "$audio_src" \
-        -filter_complex "[0:v]${DT}[vout];[1:a]afade=t=in:st=0:d=0.5,afade=t=out:st=${fade_out}:d=0.5[aout]" \
-        -map "[vout]" -map "[aout]" \
-        -c:v libx264 -pix_fmt yuv420p -crf "$CRF_SUNRISE" \
-        -c:a aac -b:a 128k \
-        -y "$final_video"; then
-        audio_mixed=true
+        -filter_complex "[1:a]afade=t=in:st=0:d=0.5,afade=t=out:st=${fade_out}:d=0.5[aout]" \
+        -map "0:v" -map "[aout]" \
+        -c:v copy -c:a aac -b:a 128k \
+        -y "$temp_audio"; then
+        work_video="$temp_audio"
+        has_audio=true
+        echo "Audio: mixed OK"
     else
-        echo "Audio mix failed — retrying with overlay only"
+        rm -f "$temp_audio"; temp_audio=""
+        echo "Audio mix failed — step 3b will be overlay-only"
         "$SCRIPT_DIR/notify.sh" "WARNING: sunrise audio mix failed $current_date" \
-            "Audio could not be mixed — falling back to overlay-only" || true
+            "Audio could not be mixed — continuing with overlay only" || true
         [ "$audio_src" = "$cam_audio" ] && rm -f "$cam_audio"
     fi
 fi
 
-if ! $audio_mixed; then
-    echo "Step 3/3: overlay (no audio) → $final_video"
-    ffmpeg -loglevel warning \
-        -i "$sped_video" \
-        -vf "${DT}" \
-        -c:v libx264 -pix_fmt yuv420p -crf "$CRF_SUNRISE" -an \
-        -y "$final_video" || step3_ok=false
-fi
+# ── Step 3b: burn overlay ─────────────────────────────────────────────────────
+echo "Step 3b/3: overlay → $final_video"
+if $has_audio; then audio_out_flags=(-c:a copy); else audio_out_flags=(-an); fi
 
-if $step3_ok; then
+if ffmpeg -loglevel warning \
+    -i "$work_video" \
+    -vf "${DT}" \
+    -c:v libx264 -pix_fmt yuv420p -crf "$CRF_SUNRISE" \
+    "${audio_out_flags[@]}" \
+    -y "$final_video"; then
     actual_dur=$(ffprobe -v error -show_entries format=duration -of csv=p=0 "$final_video")
     echo "Done: $final_video  (${actual_dur}s, sunrise at ${SR_TIME})"
-    rm -f "$sped_video"
+    rm -f "$sped_video" "$temp_audio"; temp_audio=""
     [ -f "$cam_audio" ] && rm -f "$cam_audio"
     "$SCRIPT_DIR/notify.sh" "Sunrise ready: $current_date" \
         "$(basename "$final_video") — ${actual_dur}s, sunrise at ${SR_TIME}" || true
 else
-    mv "$sped_video" "$final_video"
-    echo "Overlay failed — promoting speed-only video as upload target"
+    if $has_audio; then promote_label="audio-mixed"; else promote_label="speed-only"; fi
+    mv "$work_video" "$final_video"
+    [ "$work_video" != "$sped_video" ] && rm -f "$sped_video"
+    temp_audio=""
+    [ -f "$cam_audio" ] && rm -f "$cam_audio"
+    echo "Overlay failed — promoting ${promote_label} video as upload target"
     "$SCRIPT_DIR/notify.sh" "WARNING: sunrise overlay failed $current_date" \
-        "Overlay step failed — uploading speed-only video (no timestamp)" || true
+        "Overlay failed — uploading ${promote_label} video (no timestamp)" || true
 fi