As most musicians and audio professionals will acknowledge, the ability to handle a variety of music and audio tasks is essential to survival in the industry. Such is the case with Producer/Engineer Matt Molchany. In addition to having played drums on multiple album projects, he is actively involved in studio recording, sound creation, and a variety of other musical endeavors—and at the heart of it all is his Model 24 Multi-Track Live Recording Console from TASCAM.
Sound design is an important part of Molchany’s activities. He produced the Sample Pack Analog Haze for Bandlab by Cakewalk and has more projects in the pipeline. He also works in live on location video recording, and has produced 60+ live sessions for the video series Tape Swap Radio. Further, he has engineered several sessions with Grammy® winning producer/mixer Phil Joly among his many activities. When asked about his use of the TASCAM Model 24, Molchany had much to say.
“For my work at home,” Molchany reports, “I use the Model 24 as an interface and submixer for all my instruments, as well as to grab audio via Bluetooth, which is surprisingly handy. On location, the Model 24 enables me to build a main mix, a monitor mix for the artist, then record multi-channel audio right to my laptop.”
When asked about the Model 24’s features he finds most beneficial to his manner of working, Molchany offered the following thoughts, “Live or at home, being able to give myself or an artist a great sounding monitor mix is huge. That’s what they’re responding to when performing or recording, so being able to EQ, compress, and run great sounding and inspiring effects on sources helps me to build a mix that sounds close to finished. It gets me fired up, which helps me stay inspired and get great takes from artists. Having a Bluetooth input on the Model 24 for live work is another great feature for running music between sets and when we’re at home recording. It’s great to be able to get ideas off my phone and into my DAW. The Model 24 also enables me to stream beats off my iPad right into it, which I can improvise to along with all the instruments connected to the mixer.”
Molchany was particularly impressed with the Model 24’s ability to handle a challenging project he was involved with at Temple University. “For my filmmaker friend’s senior thesis at Temple,” he explained, “he produced a live show and recording that consisted of six bands playing live in one part of the venue, with an elaborate theatrical side show between bands. With the Model 24, we were able to record every single input and feed high quality tracks to my computer—all while providing a great sounding main mix for the show’s attendees as well as a monitor mix for the bands. Further, all the images that were used were mixed at my studio and synced to video.”
With musical electronics and related audio gear, questions frequently arise. Hence, the ability to receive capable and responsive customer and technical support services is crucial to keeping a project on schedule. Here too, Molchany was very positive about his experience with TASCAM. “Every experience I’ve had with the support staff at TASCAM has been exceptional. They have people who know the gear and understand what you’re trying to accomplish. They get it, and that’s vitally important when you’re working to capture people’s creative aspirations.”
Before turning his attention to the business of the day, Molchany offered a few final comments, “Over the year that I’ve had it, the Model 24 has served me very well as a mobile recording rig as and as a Swiss army knife when doing both a live show and live recording. It’s been equally valuable at home, where I like to have lots of instruments and keyboards plugged in so I can get inspired and hop from idea to idea. For all that it offers, the Model 24 is a really great value and is easy to use. You really can’t go wrong with the Model 24.”
Matt Molchany is the owner of Shards Recording Studio. For more information, visit his website at https://www.shardsrecordingstudio.com/. For a sample of his work, go to https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YJw8Pc8NuoQ. To learn more about the TASCAM Model 24, visit https://tascam.com/us/product/model_24/top.
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