March 15, 2019

7.00 am: A morning:

8.00 am: A communion. 9.00 am: Studiology. I returned to ‘All Scripture’ and began listening to the whole, moment by moment, to eek out the potential of the existing options to the full. In my head, I can now conceive the order of the CD compositions, in relation to one another. A beginning and an end (alpha and omega) is in sight. Likely or not, the album will start with the very first piece that I composed, where Scourby reads: ‘He who has ears to hear, let him hear’ (Matthew 11.15).

When you approach the conclusion of a composition, solutions to problems come thick and fast. It’s like reaching the end of a large jigsaw puzzle. Where the few pieces that remain should be placed becomes self-evident. Which doesn’t mean that solutions can be implemented quickly. But knowing what you’re working towards is far better than not knowing.

10.30 am: I inserted the recording of the multiple and overlaid needle drops at the beginning of each record side – looped, reversed it on itself, and overlaid the sample – to form a regulating rhythmic spine beneath the surface of the drones. It pushed the composition forward like an express train. ‘Woh!’ The addition complicated and, at the same time, clarified the nature of the composition, too. I work to tolerances that are far more exacting than necessary for audition. I could be a little sloppy, and no one would know. But I can’t abide slackness and arbitrariness. One should do the right thing because it’s the right to do, and not because anyone will notice.

After lunch, having tightened up the introits and extroits of track sections, I attended to the internal measures of the composition’s parts. All the time I asked myself: ‘What can be removed?’ I recalled ‘Art Orb Seven’ from the my first album. There are affinities between the two compositions. In this way ‘All Scripture’ makes a backward connection to the beginning of The Aural Bible trilogy. 2.30 pm: A period of close and attentive listening.

Every change has to be heard in the context of the whole. It’s the equivalent of standing back from a painting. Then, I removed the ‘beat’ track to interrogate whether the drones could hold their own independently. The measures of the drone, having been structured on the ‘beat’ track’s looped iterations, had changed significantly. I asked myself the question: ‘Is the “beat” track merely scaffolding or, rather, part of the building?’ If the former, then, it would need to be dismantled. The job will have been done. 3.15 pm: Marmite time!. The low-salt version really doesn’t cut:

‘Do something new, John! Something that you aren’t comfortable with?’ Towards the end of the afternoon, I recognised that my efficiency had begun to wane. I could no longer hear things so acutely. Therefore, different and complementary tasks were set before me: drawing up a track list for the eighteen compositions, and reviewing a number of the completed compositions. ‘Do I really need the composition that I’m currently working on?’ ‘The needs of the many outweigh the needs of few’, as Mr Spock would say. No track was so necessary as to compromise the integrity of the whole album.

5.20 pm: And end for the day, with the hope of greater wisdom tomorrow.

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