We are most probably talking a four track recording machine.At best an 8 track at RCA Hollywood,or some huge major label studio.A 16 track was surely unheard of.The trick of the trade for engineers in that day was "ping-ponging," recording and then stacking tracks on top of each other.Mixing the tracks down at the same time.All analog.Editing with a razor blade and scotch tape.No compression,noise reduction or "tape hiss" was in it's infancy,no dolby nor dbx.When you popped your fresh bought single or album,brand new onto the record player when the needle hit the grooves it would go snap,crackle, pop.And then the tune would play.Most records were in what they would call mono or single track playback between all speakers,mixed down to one channel.Or you could spend a few extra pennies and get a stereo two track mix which you could pan from left to right.With The Beatles all of the singing would be in the left channel and all of the music in the right.and you would receive a stern warning not to play a stereo record on a mono machine,"you would do irreparable damage to both the record and your machine."In truth it would just playback in mono.which was soon to be phased out,yet some of the greatest record producers like Phil Spector would only record in mono. A full orchestra in the studio under one overhead mic.The players provided the dynamics.Pretty cool man.