I found Wally Hiders M79 on the street

by Sean
(Noth Hollywood CA)

About 25 years ago, I was walking my dog when I noticed an old tape machine sitting out on the street. I happened to know the man who lived there—Frank—a pianist who used to play at the Beverly Garland Hotel. He was about 95 at the time, sharp as ever, and I had already seen his little garage studio because we both had makeshift setups. He’d even visited mine back when I was working with Acid software, which absolutely blew him and his 90-something-year-old buddy away.

So I rolled the machine home—just a few blocks—and eventually built it right into the wall of my new garage studio.

A little later, Frank saw me and asked if I was the one who took it. I said yes. He just smiled and said, “That’s great!”
His Thai mail-order wife, Teadee (who was about 40), chimed in: “Fwank! You no bring dis mach-een in house!” so he had to put it to the curb!
Frank then told me the story. One of his musician friends had passed away, and they found the machine in an attic or storage somewhere. The widow had given it to Frank. He said it originally belonged to Wally Heider, who used it on the road for recording sessions—possibly even at Monterey. Frank actually knew Wally pretty well, and mentioned he had been inside a small recording room setup not much bigger than my North Hollywood studio. Inside were tapes everywhere labeled things like Jimi Hendrix and Janis Joplin.

So at that point, I realized I was basically sitting on a piece of recording history.
Later, I was lucky enough to know Dale Manquen, who—among many accomplishments—invented the flying fader and had worked at the 3M plant in Camarillo. He probably knew more about these machines than anyone alive. He came by to help me power it up because the only power switch was an unlabeled button with a light bulb and I was afraid to just start pressing things.

When he saw it, even he noticed modifications he had never seen before—and he had seen a lot. Where the meter section should have been on a two-track, there were instead custom drivers that even he couldn’t fully identify on first inspection.
On the back, we also found a label: “Property of Record Plant.” At that point it was clear this machine had been through serious history.

I only powered it on a few times. I didn’t have the full setup to run it properly, and only one channel really seemed functional. I know someone who may have a 1,7,9 card who might be able to help bring it fully back to life—but short of that, it’s still sitting there as a half-working museum piece from another era of recording. If you know how to fix it reach out to me!

Sean