Established musician and producer 46-year-old Adam Scrimshire captured our attention with his newsletter where he discussed ‘imperfections’.
His newsletter centred on an ‘imperfect’ old piano owned by his wife. Due to a lack of space, his wife had to leave the piano at a friend’s house. It gathered dust, was damaged and out of tune. The piano had lost its essence, its raison d’etre.
His wife (years later) was able to bring the piano into the family home. It was fixed and tuned to an extent-it was still imperfect. But Adam found something unique in this imperfect sound. He used this imperfection to create a gorgeous track called Willow.
For us this ‘imperfection’ harked back to a time where musical ‘imperfections’ were in many ways accepted. It showed a singer, or live performance was ‘real‘ (for example).
Long intro (sorry). We had an interview with Adam to discuss; imperfections, the Amiga 500 and of course his new track.
Imperfection isn’t a great word for it really, they’re just signatures of the material you used, or the space you were in, or the person you were at the time. They’re qualities.
Talk about your childhood and what in your childhood/ teenage years impacted your passion for music?
I grew up in a close-knit family, very close with my grandparents. Between 8 and 18 we all lived together-my brother, mum, dad, nan and gramp. There was a lot of music played in the house and weekends were a lot about listening to records together. Everyone shared their favourite music with each other across all three generations. The love for music in our house clearly had a lasting impact on me.
The Amiga 500-a classic discuss how it helped you in making music?
When I started to show an interest in playing music, I was given a midi-interface to go with our Amiga 500 and something like a Yamaha tone generator. At first, I wasn’t into it, I just wanted a big keyboard with 1000 sounds in it, loads of buttons. At some point, for some reason, I decided to give it a go. As soon as I realised how I could program whole songs on it, I was basically lost to it. I saved up and got better sound sources, cobbled together low-quality mixers and tape decks, and just spent endless hours working out how to make sounds and songs.
I eventually got an 8-bit sampler for the Amiga, and when the 500 was struggling, upgraded to a 1200. I used Amigas to make music for years. I played gigs with them (carrying around a heavy CRT tv with me) and a minidisc player as back up when it inevitably crashed. Eventually I added a second-hand AKAI S1100 to the set up for a couple of years before finally moving into a PC and Cubase.
While on tools to create music- Wah Wah 45s-discuss?
Wah Wah 45s was the first label that signed me, many years later. They nurtured my first ideas and attempts to find a direction. Dom Servini became one of my closest friends and in time, I ended up running and owning the label with Dom, up until about two years ago. I learned a huge amount and met so many incredible people. Amazing opportunities to be in studios and around inspiring artists and DJs all over the world. It all gave me the knowledge I needed to eventually start Albert’s Favourites (named after my Grandad Albert’s mixtapes) and chase some of my own ideas and challenges.
I personally find imperfections are the gateway to those feelings. Something that catches you by surprise or turns your head or confuses in a good way.
So ‘imperfections’ what does this mean to you?
Imperfections for me are the good bits. They are humanity. They are personality. I don’t really chase perfection (though a lot of people insist I do). I have high expectations of myself, but I’m not looking for perfection, I’m looking for a feeling. I personally find imperfections are the gateway to those feelings. Something that catches you by surprise or turns your head or confuses in a good way.
Why do you think that in some ways ‘imperfections’ are viewed even more harshly today?
If that’s true I guess it’s because we can analyse everything so clearly now. Everything is on view, and everything is more visible. We’re much more often seeing and hearing ourselves through the perspective of others, through the eye of the camera. Plus, the tools we have available to us are higher quality, so what’s the excuse for poor production anymore?
When I was learning, I would record through a worthless audiovisual mixer from radio shack that was so badly made you could hear longwave radio on the recordings, onto a cassette tape, with a £5 microphone. But I was building something, and it didn’t matter because at the time few people were doing it either. It was something rare at the time.
Why should we celebrate ‘imperfections’ (of course the word has negative connotations)?
As we move into an era of AI creation, I think we will find imperfections more a sign of humanity to be celebrated. I think we will seek to make less, perfect things, to be more punk about it. To express ourselves in imperfect ways, on the streets, in person, away from machines. Imperfection isn’t a great word for it really, they’re just signatures of the material you used, or the space you were in, or the person you were at the time. They’re qualities.
Talk about ‘imperfections’ and your ‘piano.’ Indeed, how did those ‘imperfections’ translate into the music you created?
The piano had about a decade where it wasn’t with us. It belongs to my wife since she was little. But we lived in a city and for years she was in a flat where it wouldn’t fit. So, it went around friends and over the years got neglected. When we got it back there were hammers broken off, keys cracks, all sorts of damage.
We eventually found a good local tuning person, but when they came, they told us it would cost thousands to get it fixed if it was even possible. They said it’s probably not worth more than a couple of hundred pounds (aside from the sentimental value). All the same, they tuned it as best they could.
A few days later I thought I would record it as a kind of gift to my wife, considering we may never do it again. I had to transpose my playing (I was recording along to a piece I’d begun writing on guitar) and even then, it was already further out of tune. So, I had to pitch it a little in Ableton. I had to avoid certain keys that didn’t work, but I played some out of tune keys that because there was a nice, unique ringing and thumping from them.
Talk a bit about the track Willow, what were the practical, technical aspects of creating the tune?
Making the song was about creating space. I didn’t put any bass on because I didn’t want to compromise the detail and beauty in the low air and energy of the piano itself. So much of its sound is in the resonance of the wooden box, which is deep, creaky, and bumpy.
So just some gentle strings and some beats to drive things along. The chorus chords reminded me a little of 4Hero for some reason, so I paid my respects there too, with some subtle rattling drum breaks, hand programmed though – like I used to do on the amiga. No samples.
What’s next for you in 2025?
I’m doing a lot more mixing and production work now, and I hope that continues. I have an album of my own sitting waiting to be finished, but there’s a lot to achieve with that. I’d like to at least get it finished in 2025. And there are plenty of interesting releases coming on Albert’s Favourites to keep me busy too.