1994 March
Volume 5 Issue 3

(1) Absolutely Frank
By Joe Spiegel, 6 pp

(2) First Impressions
By Joe Chiccarelli, 1 p

(3) The UMRK Mix
By Bob Stone, 1 p

(1) Q. Back when you bought Pal Recording in Cucamonga, CA, from Paul Buff and turned it into Studio Z, Buff (who invented the Kepex noise gate) was experimenting with some fairly innovative audio equipment. What's the story behind the 5-track recorder that he made?
A. He took a Presto deck and made his own head stack. I don't even remember what kind they were, but he bought a bunch of heads and machined this stack that was about six inches across. And the heads weren't stacked on top of each other, they were staggered, because at the time there was no material that could give you enough insulation between the heads if you stacked them one on top of another. So he has five heads in a row that were erase heads, and then five more in a row that were record and playback, so it wasn't like three distinct groups of heads-it was two distinct groups. Because of this unique arrangement with the heads stacked in a diagonal way, those 5-track masters can't be played on any head other than the original, and it's all worn now.

Q. Where is the 5-track now?
A. I don't know. I lost track of the deck, but the head stack itself is probably in a box of garbage someplace down in the vault.

(read more @ EQ Magazine, March 1994 )