9.30 am. A fruitless foray to the Farmers’ Market, where no eggs or cross-boar kidneys were (again):

10.30 pm. A day in the studio, working with the recording of the engraving made from the Welsh translation of the second commandment. On this occasion it was filtered through Handboard 2:

Many sounds are possible, but few are appropriate. The source text is the most important filter by far. It constrains or disciplines the output of the electronic filters. I find myself searching for dark and unsettling sonorities, in keeping with the spirit and context of Moses’ encounter with God on Mount Sinai (Exod. 19-20; Deut. 5). In respect to the latter, along with the noise of thunder and the voice of God enunciating the commandments, the text also records ‘the voice of the trumpet exceeding loud’ which ‘sounded long, and waxed louder and louder’ (Exod. 19.19). These sonic elements belong to the source’s intrinsic soundscape and, therefore, must be honoured in my interpretation.

1.20 pm. I’m planning to visit to my hometown of Abertillery in the summer. I’ve not returned in over four years. I go whenever a season for personal reappraisal beckons, to touch the ground of my ancestry and social, cultural, and spiritual roots :

2.15 pm. An apparently failed line cable (subsequently revealed to be a plug that had been part pulled out of its socket) and a broken power cable held up proceeding for the first part of the afternoon. He who lives by technology, dies by it. 3.00 pm. The train begins to move again. Low frequency, thunderous rumbles, as I push the Welsh translation through the repaired Handboard 1 with low-pass filters at full. One further fly past, with resonance and at a higher pitch, and it’s quits for the day. 4.45 pm. Dinner duties call.

6.20 pm. An evening with the family.