There are people in the music industry that give 110% all the time. When you think of the Bethlehem Music Scene there is one name that comes up all the time: Matt Molchany. The producer/musician has decades of experience recording and producing some of the most well known bands to come out of The Lehigh Valley.
The Jamwich has the opportunity to catch up with Matt and talk about his history behind the scenes, and some of his favorite moments over the years.
Question #1:
You’re a very prolific person in The Lehigh Valley scene as an audio engineer. When did you create your studio (SHARDS) and become an audio engineer?
Matt:
I started at a very young age. We’re talking pre teens. My Dad had a four track laying around, so when he went to work I’d figure out how to use it. I was already a musician. So that’s how it all started. In elementary and middle school, I had classes, where we would go to NCC (Northampton Community College, colloquially known as Nack-Ack), where we would meet up with their TV/Film Production professors. They would challenge us to try to figure out how to put together an actual TV show. I got to be on the audio team when I was eleven or twelve years old during these projects. I was always the guy recording bands, including my own. I got my first space to really hone in on my recording skills at nineteen in Allentown (Pennsylvania). It was a part time gig up until around 2015, when I decided to make it my full-time career. SHARDS Recording Studio has been here since 2008, and when I first began recording at the studio, it was blank and completely bare. Just walls, a bunch of gear and bands practicing, used it to record myself and my bands. I did projects for money on the side here and there. I actually fell in love with social work around that time, so I decided to go into that field around that time. I “cross faded” into audio (funny to use that term), and became a full time audio engineer. It’s amazing how many musicians have come through the doors in twelve years.
Christopher:
We will get to the musicians that have come through the studio in the very near future.
Question #2.
You talked about your bands and also very musical (guitar/drums…). Can you tell us about any special moments that have occurred in the studio over the years?
Matt:
Oh man! There have been so many! The memories are all coming back to me. A lot of great times making music, and the friendships over the years are amazing.
The first band I was in when I came to The Lehigh Valley was New Madrid Faults (with John Kimock and Matt Juknevic), was an incredible time for me. I just came off the road from touring in a band in California, and it felt like I was on the road every three months doing a DIY tour again.
I holed up with them in the studio, and I feel like it was one of the first times I put some of my soul into SHARDS. We worked really hard with that band. When I wasn’t here (studio) they were. A few times a week, I would just sit down and write, write and write. That would turn into playing at Wildflower Cafe down the road, or fill on drums for someone. Like wildfire, The Wildflower, kind of kicked everything off for me, as I was in close proximity to the venue, where they had a great Open Mic. There’s tons of great memories from there, I feel there is a tunnel going from here to there, and then another tunnel going from here (SHARDS) to The Secret Artspace. All three scenes helped each other grow.
Christopher:
The Bethlehem scene has always been like a hidden gem. You have venues such as Wildflower Cafe, The Funhouse, The Secret Artspace. In Allentown, you have The Alternative Gallery.
Matt:
Not to mention the DIY venues that would pop up.
Christopher:
Ohhhh yeah! I would love to go to the $5 shows on a Friday night with national touring bands. Put an honest buck in their pocket.
Matt:
Saint Bernard’s, The Burners as people call it, had some really solid bands that John Schultheis would get. Man! These are some great memories.
Question #3:
For the past nine to ten months we have been in a global pandemic. How have you adjusted in your recording aspect and the way you go about things?
Matt:
I shut down and started doing mainly remote work. Meaning I would take on drumming on someone’s project, for instance they would send me a song, I would drum on it, and send it back. Also started making loops and beats for download, pay what you want. Which I would release on BandCamp every couple weeks. That helped out. People were actually sending my money for these beats which was great. I got to practice drums, and got some mixing projects done, which everything was tracked before the pandemic. I had about thirty songs to mix for two different people. I got everything done but I needed to get ready for when I could open the studio back up for bands. I took a look around the studio, and my savings from when I wasn’t working for a month or two, and wanted to put all the money into making the studio even safer. April (my partner), helped me with any surface that wasn’t sealed, anything that could be porous, allow bacteria to get into it, I painted over all of it with semi-gloss paint. Another project was installing a vocal booth, as I turned into an entire room into a vocal booth. If anyone wants to be in a space with their mask off, they can be into there and it’s 100% safe. For instance a group has a few horn players, they can cut their horn tracks inside the isolation booth instead of the main recording floor.
We got a new air conditioner with circulation, an air circulator, air purifier, and so many other nips and tucks I did to the space. I ended spending thousands of dollars.
Christopher:
It’s great that you are going the extra mile to make sure every musician that comes through the doors is safe.
Matt:
I don’t want to get anyone sick. It’s about them but it’s also about who they might see later too.
Christopher:
One of my favorite moments I saw on your Instagram was when you did a drum track for the Channel 6 ABC News.
Matt:
It was my first viral video ever! The “Tim and Eric Awesome Show”. I just started to see the plays skyrocketing and my followers go up. I did a thing I guess! That’s what I’m supposed to say, the millennial thing to say.
Everything aside, I just wanted to do it really bad because it felt so good.
Christopher:
I could feel the energy for that minute when you were playing. I honestly probably watched it seven or eight times.
Matt:
A few people messaged me to see if I was angry. I replied to them and said that I was angry at the past four years of the presidency and putting it into just smashing my drums, playing the triplets as hard as I could.
Question #4:
What other hobbies do you have when you’re not in the studio?
Matt:
I read a lot about politics. Mental health as well is a great subject to read up on. I have dogs so I love taking our dogs for walks and hikes.
Christopher:
You touched on mental health. For touring and non-touring musicians I believe their creative side is coming out during this time. It takes you for a tailspin when you have to come off tour.
Matt:
Honestly that’s what it felt like when it hit. I went from working six to seven days a week in the studio. Not eight to ten hour days but I would be here at some point, and then the global pandemic hit, where no one could come into the studio period. You hit a brick wall. It’s funny you mention the touring aspect because it reminded me when I would get back from a six week tour and had to go back to work. I needed to be a normal human being again.
Christopher:
At points when you surround yourself with people that are not touring musicians and you need to get back to reality at 9 A.M. on a Monday morning when you were just on the road for a few weeks and got back at 1 A.M. The adrenaline is still going through you.
Matt:
If I got back at 1 A.M. they aren’t seeing me at 9
A.M. the next day. You’ll see me a few days later.
The mental health aspect of the pandemic. Honestly:
Do you. Do yourself. Go with the flow. Don’t do anything you wouldn’t have done otherwise. You’ll probably give yourself a “to do list” that is so scary that you will burn out.
Christopher:
You’ll have 25 things “to do” but you only got two of them done. You got two of them done and that’s what it is all about.
Matt:
I like to have a schedule in a way when I work on music. When it comes down to it I let the moment and inspiration take me. I’ll practice drums and mess around on guitar here and there. I don’t expect myself to have a solid “riff a day”. I’d rather do stuff like hang out with my dogs, read, and just exist.
Christopher:
I feel there are different outlets people have gotten into the past few months that they never realized about themselves. They may have had their “9-5” put together on hold and they say “Am I going to learn something about myself during this time?”
Matt:
That’s exactly it. It’s you and you at that point. There is nothing hiding you from everything that is going on inside your head. Whatever was churning away, and you may have been using your work, hobbies or your schedule. The phrase
“I’m busy” is used over and over. All of those things are gone now, and you need to face yourself. That is scary for some people. I won’t lie and say it wasn’t for me. I have to be with me.
Christopher:
I was scared $hitless.
Matt:
Not to turn it around but how did you get through it.
Christopher:
Well, I went “hard” with my journalism. I would reach out via email or Instagram to musicians about possible interviews. I also walked a lot to keep my mental health up, usually six to eight miles a day. Some of the musicians were my friends but some I would send a message out of the blue and be like “Hey! You want to hang out on a Tuesday afternoon and chat for a while.” I got a lot of positive feedback, and let’s be honest, 2020 was pretty $hitty for everyone but it wasn’t all $hit.
Matt:
That’s great! It all comes down to what you do with the hand you’re dealt. How do you respond to your situation. That’s what it comes down to. It’s hard. It’s not easy. There were times when I was like what am I even doing. I have no work and I know people are waiting to get back in once it (the studio) opens, but I didn’t know when it was going to open. It can be scary, but it’s not changing who I am, it’s just a thing happening around me. It was just a situation, and situations will come and go. Just stay strong with what is outside of you.
Christopher:
People just need to look out for each other and themselves in 2021.
Matt:
We should all take some more time to talk and get to know our neighbor this year.
