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The 8-track was given the name "Octopus" by W. C. Fields, it says here. Amazing since Fields died 9 years earlier. http://mixonline.com/mag/audio_ampex_selsync/ Fields did record in Les Paul's garage, btw..he made the Temperance Lecture and "Glass of water" sketches there. dl Richard L. Hess wrote: > Hello, Doug, > > I would like to suggest that the intimacy/immediacy/tension of having to > "get it right" on each and every pass had something to do with the final > product. Perhaps this is one reason why good live performances are > sometimes (often?) more interesting than over-worked multi-tracked > studio creations. While both pathways can create excellent work, there > is a difference. > > My understanding was that Les never had a mega hit after he obtained the > 8-track machine, which is too bad. > > I also understand that Les is still around and living in New Jersey. You > might be able to go and ask him. Please bring a recorder and do an oral > history <smile>. > > Cheers, > > Richard > > At 04:43 PM 2008-09-19, Doug Pomeroy wrote: >> After making ten successful sound on sound passes, a mistake during the >> eleventh pass would effectively erase all ten previous passes, and it >> must have occurred to Les that a way to avoid this disaster would be >> to make a >> safety dub of the tenth pass. >> >> But how could he make a dub if he had only one tape recorder? He >> could have made a disc dub, since he had a lathe. Or, he could have >> taken his >> tapes to Capitol to have dubs made. But presumably he did neither. I >> sure would >> like to ask him about this. >> >> It is interesting to me that after he got the eight-track (octopus) >> from Ampex, he never again (in my opinion) made the kind of brilliant >> recordings >> which he'd made with his modified mono deck. (Like the centipede >> which, asked >> how it could coordinate the motion of all those legs, could never walk >> thereafter?) >> >> As for tape delay, check out his brilliant "I'm Forever Blowing >> Bubbles", where the repetition rate of the delay fits perfectly the >> tempo of that song. >> >> Doug Pomeroy >> POMEROY AUDIO >> Audio Restoration & Mastering Services >> 193 Baltic St >> Brooklyn, NY 11201-6173 >> (718) 855-2650 >> [log in to unmask] >> ============================================================= > > Richard L. Hess email: [log in to unmask] > Aurora, Ontario, Canada (905) 713 6733 1-877-TAPE-FIX > Detailed contact information: http://www.richardhess.com/tape/contact.htm > Quality tape transfers -- even from hard-to-play tapes. >