8.45 am. Inbox inquiries investigated. 9.15 pm. The digital proofs for my chapter on the Evan Roberts wax cylinder have arrived from The Courtauld Institute of Art. Very elegant:

The morning was set apart for a review of prospective grant applications. Now begins the process of identifying collaborators, maintaining contact with funders, and refining prospective projects in negotiation with both. What I would like to do and what they’d like me to do; what can be done and what should be done; and what would be interesting to do and what others are willing to fund, aren’t necessarily the same thing. The focus, today, is on defining the scholarly enterprise: the driving questions and problematics, the contexts of operation, the interdisciplinary and collaborative potential. I wrote a salutary note to myself, to the effect: ‘Beware making a science of that which is not’:

1.40 pm. Got physical. Back in the sound studio, I addressed the power allocation for the new subwoofers. My uncle Owen was a colliery electrician. He and my father taught me the principles of domestic wiring, fuses, voltage, resistance, and amperage. Both of them are in my thoughts every time I change a plug. I’ve become aware of a subtle alteration in my attitude to the studio. It now feels compromised by its dual identity as the context for making both visual and sonic images. My instinct is to remove all the paraphernalia of my visual practice, in order to open up a space for the other activity to fill completely and committedly.

Now, then …

…  how to distribute and retain a stereo signal over three amplifier/speakers. Periodically, I diagrammatised the sound/landscape concept. The schematics are beginning to resemble those that I’ve drawn for my pedalboard and handboard effectors. These are ideas in search of a circuit:

6.30 pm. Practise session 1.

7.30 pm. Once again, the instruction book that came with one of the new subwoofers was errant. (The diagram was misleading and unrealisable.) But the manufacturer provides the correct configuration on their website. (It pays to get a second opinion … even if it’s from the same ‘doctor’). However, in order to complete the connection, I need to purchase a pair of matching ‘gay’ and ‘lesbian’ Neutrik adapters: male to male, and female to female. Who on earth sexualised plugs and sockets in the first place? On, then, with tweaking the small subwoofer’s phase alignment. I can now make all the doors on the top floor vibrate at 40Hz.

9.30 pm. Practise session 2.