9.00 am: Studiology. Before composition recommenced, I undertook a RAM upgrade on two on my MacBook Pros. The computers are now seven years old. The additional 8 GB will not speed up some processes, but will allow large sounds to play in parallel in session mode without digital drop out. My bespoke PC will have 32 GB and more than twice the processing speed. More than enough:

Afterwards, I listened to ‘225’ again. A minor tweak, and it was finished. On, then, to ‘Whetstone (Link)’ and back to the modulation phase. ‘All Scripture’ (the composition that overlays all the records’ sides to form a 48-minute piece) bugs me. I’d dearly like to include it on the CD. However, the medium can only accommodate 78 minutes of music. That would require the exclusion of other tracks. A dilemma. A letter to the CD production company was posted. I need hard facts before making any decision.

Auto-interrogatory questions: 1. Do I need to make a composition for all five nuclear explosions when I haven’t made representations of every incident of Christ healing the blind. 2. Can any of the completed compositions be made more concise, regardless of whether the overall length of the CD needs to be shorter? 3. Are all the compositions reasonably well-balanced for duration? (Over-long tracks assume an importance that they don’t deserve.) 4. Does each track contribute something to the whole than none of the others do? If not, it’s justification for remaining among them is in doubt. 5. Can ‘All Scripture’ (which increasingly feels like a consummatory composition) be represented other than as a long (and, potentially, rather dull) drone? All these questions have to be answered in parallel, and soon. They’re at the crux of the CD’s completion.

After lunch, I attended to question 5. I reminded myself of what I knew about the material nature of the sound source:

• Each record has two sides (‘A’ and ‘B’), and these are overlaid in the process of aggregating the whole box set.
• On ‘Side A’, the label’s information is in braille; on ‘Side B’, it’s written.
• There are four volumes in the box set.
• There are 67 records (134 sides) in the box set

Thus, 4 is the fundamental division of the whole. Four parts, each 12-minutes long. Superimposed, the new whole would manageably fit onto CD and be long enough to remain engaging. In theory, each part could be developed as a partial composition and then interwoven with the others. In contrast to the other, variously heavily percussive, doom-laden, excitable, and dismal compositions, I want this composition to be radiant and resonant. But I’ve no idea how I’ll fulfil that ambition.