8.30 am. Back to school, and a morning of MA Fine Art and Art History tutorials. The students have their affairs in hand. Although, I doubt whether any one of them would recognize themselves in that description:

Some principles and observations:

• Trust neither the praise nor the criticism of others. Instead, be your own best judge.
• Nothing is ever wasted: neither our failures, nor abandonments, nor misdirection, nor cul-de-sacs.
• Resolutions come in their own time; they cannot be pre-empted.
• We are just as likely to fail for reason of being over ambitious as under ambitious. Aim for a singular, measured, and realistic response.
• The chief-end of study is no more the grade than an Oscar is the principal objective of filmmaking.
• Look only to the next step, rather than to the final outcome.

1.30 pm. A late lunch, followed by a sift through, and response to, the backlog of email that had accrued over the vacation: postgraduate applications, research inquiries, and university admin. 4.30 pm. I sent a query to the manufacturers of my PA system about a connection configuration issue with a unit on the studio rack.

6.30 pm. The cables of the the new Pedalboards I-III array needed tidying:

Tomorrow the array will be tested through the reconfigured studio rack. 7.30 pm. We were host to a Holy Trinity Church sub-committee that was convened to discuss the development of a new liturgical model for a Sunday morning service. 10.30 pm. I finalised responses to further incoming emails. 12.00 am. To bed!

Run into each day.

9.00 am. Over the past few days I’ve committed myself to building a guitar effects array that, for the first time, integrates all three pedalboards. This type of task is far too complex and labour intensive to be undertaken in term time:

The array includes a completely overhauled Pedalboard III, which comprises modulation effectors only (chorus, flanger, phaser, vibrato, tremolo, delay, and reverb). It duplicates some of the functions performed by the Pedalboard II, but now permits, for example, a flanger and a phaser to operate in parallel and simultaneously — which was not possible when using either board in isolation:

Today’s task is to revisit, reroute, and reconfigure the studio rack — the power and control centre for all the performance and recording equipment. (This job was undertaken once before, in May 2014.) Thereafter, the rack will need to be configured with the two PA primary amps and subwoofer. I enjoy the physicality of the process, the contingencies, the possibilities, the variables, and the unexpected solutions.

1.30 pm. No Pussyfooting! I un-cabled the whole rack and began to reconnect direct inputs, equalizers, modulators, and a noise gate together and to the mixer in a more rational order. (This knowledge is the fruit of hard-won experience.) 2.40 pm. I witnessed a peculiar cloud formation that recalled the view down upon the world from an airplane at 30,000 feet:

3.20 pm. After a spot of re-Velcroing, I set about linking an instrument/line level input to mixer. (This is route 1-2.) At every stage, the system is tested. On, then, with establishing routes 3-4, 5-6, and 7-8, each of which is mapped onto a schematic diagram:

5.15 pm. The connections were completed. Functionality had been optimised:

I need, now, only to contact the manufacturers of my PA system for information regarding its attachment to the controller on the rack. 6.30 pm. An evening with the family.