Dr Will Schrimshaw (he/him)

Senior Fellow of the Higher Education Academy (SFHEA)

School of Languages, Arts and Societies

Lecturer in Popular Music Technology and Composition

Director of the University of Sheffield Sound Studios

Exams and Assessments Officer

Will Schrimshaw 2025 Staff Photo
Profile picture of Will Schrimshaw 2025 Staff Photo
w.schrimshaw@sheffield.ac.uk
Jessop Building

Full contact details

Dr Will Schrimshaw
School of Languages, Arts and Societies
Jessop Building
Leavygreave Road
Sheffield
S3 7RD
Profile

My work combines creative practice and critical writing on electronic music, sound synthesis and the role of sound in wider contemporary arts practice. My work in these areas has been performed, exhibited and published widely. I have a keen interest in exploratory forms of popular music and studio production, something that informs much of my teaching.

Before joining the University of Sheffield I worked at Newcastle University and Edge Hill University where I taught electronic music, studio composition, interactive systems and a range of modules related to music, media and cultural theory.

Beyond academia I have worked on the production of albums that have been nominated for and won BBC Folk awards, toured internationally as a drummer in a wide range of bands and ensembles, and worked as a technical consultant for a number of leading arts organisations and festivals.

Beyond music I’m a keen long-distance cyclist, a hobby that frequently finds me alone in the wilderness sleeping in highly questionable and rarely comfortable locations.

Research interests

My research involves creative and critical research into:

  • Contemporary and exploratory forms of electronic music.
  • Electronic music and ambient aesthetics, particularly in relation to domesticity and everyday life.
  • Sound in contemporary art, particularly environmental and art-science projects.
  • Sound installation practice.
Publications

Books

  • Schrimshaw W (2017) Immanence and Immersion On the Acoustic Condition in Contemporary Art. Bloomsbury Publishing USA.

Journal articles

  • Schrimshaw W (2018) Writing Out Sound: Immersion and Inscription in Sound Art. Leonardo Electronic Almanac, 22(3).
  • Schrimshaw W (2018) . Organised Sound, 23(2), 208-217.
  • Schrimshaw W (2018) . Leonardo, 51(1), 11-17.
  • Schrimshaw W (2015) . Sound Studies, 1(1), 155-170.
  • Schrimshaw W (2012) Any Place Whatever: Schizophonic Dislocation and the Sound of Space in General. Interference Journal(2).
  • Schrimshaw WC () . Artnodes, 0(12).

Book chapters

  • Schrimshaw W (2023) In Farrell GL (Ed.), Musical Psychedelia: Research at the Intersection of Music and Psychedelic Experience (pp. 141-154). Routledge
  • Schrimshaw W (2013) Non-cochlear sound: On affect and exteriority In Thompson M & Biddle I (Ed.), Sound, Music, Affect Theorizing Sonic Experience (pp. 27-43). London: Bloomsbury Academic.

Book reviews

  • Schrimshaw W (2021) Cosmic Convolutions: Deep Refrains: Music, Philosophy and the Ineffable by Michael Gallope. Cultural Critique, 113(Fall), 217-228.
  • Schrimshaw W () A Philosophy of Ambient Sound: Materiality, Technology, Art and the Sonic Environment. Journal of Sonic Studies.

Performances

  • Schrimshaw W (2021, April 15) Earth Sample Synthesis. Leeds University.
  • Schrimshaw W (2019, May 4) Absolutely Nothing. BEAST: University of Birmingham.
  • Schrimshaw W (2017, July 1) Continuity and Contingency. Edge Hill University.
  • Schrimshaw W & Allen J (2016, January 12) Pure Potential. OCCII Amsterdam.
  • Schrimshaw W & Allen J (2013, May 14) Acoustic Subtraction. Falmouth University.
  • Schrimshaw W & Allen J (2011, September 18) Acoustic Subtraction. Eyüp Sultan Mosque, Istanbul, Turkey.
  • Schrimshaw W & Allen J (2011, July 26) Acoustic Subtraction. Platoon Kunsthalle, Seoul, South Korea.
  • Schrimshaw W & Allen J (2010, March 10) Acoustic Subtraction. Kielder Forest, Northumberland.
  • Schrimshaw W (2009, April 2) Sediment. Kiasma, Helsinki.

Exhibitions

  • Schrimshaw W & Fisher C (2023, November 13) Cracked and Blessed. Sheffield Cathedral.
  • Schrimshaw W (2013, November 20) Ur-writings. Science Friction, Copenhagen.
  • Schrimshaw W (2013, October 10) Kirkdale/Vauxhall Palimpsest. FACT Liverpool.
  • Schrimshaw W (2013, June 27) Module for a Comprehensive Instrument. Tuned City Brussels.
  • Schrimshaw W (2011, January 28) Spectral Influence. Access Space, Sheffield.
  • Schrimshaw W (2010, October 11) Space Against Itself. AV Festival, North Tyne Tower, Newcastle upon Tyne.
  • Schrimshaw W (2010, March 8) Little Helpers. Tabakalera, Donostia/San Sebastian.
  • Schrimshaw W (2010, March 8) Resonator. AV Festival, Newcastle upon Tyne.
  • Schrimshaw W (2008, July 1) Little Helpers. Tuned City Berlin.

Digital content

  • Schrimshaw W Domestic Systems.
  • Schrimshaw W Unboxing the Modular.

Presentations

  • Schrimshaw W Ambience and Immersion. TATE Liverpool.
  • Schrimshaw W The Tone of Prime Unity. Ancient Messene, Greece..
Professional activities and memberships

I have completed commissions, performed, exhibited and undertaken community arts project with a wide range of international organisations and events including FACT (Liverpool), PixelAche (Helsinki), Tuned City (Berlin, Brussels, Athens), Tabakalera (San Sebastian), AV Festival (Newcastle upon Tyne), Future Sonic (Manchester), Club Transmediale (Berlin).

I have worked as a consultant for organisations including Yorkshire Sculpture Park, MOCA Lyon, AV Festival, Forma Arts and Media, Arnolfini Bristol and Arts Council England.

Recording engineer on Emily Portman’s The Glamoury and Hatchling albums, the second won the BBC Radio 2 Folk Award for Best Original Song.

I am a Fellow of the Higher Education Academy (FHEA).