He attended Eagle Rock High School in Los Angeles and Pasadena City College for two years before joining the U. S. Navy.
Buff learned film editing while working for the Navy's Motion Picture Office in Hollywood.
[3] In the first phase of his civilian career Buff was the "visual effects editor" on several successful films, ranging from The Empire Strikes Back (1980) through Ghostbusters (1984).
Buff was nominated for an Oscar and an Eddie for the editing of Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1991 - with Mark Goldblatt and Richard A. Harris).
Since Thirteen Days, Buff has edited eight films directed by Antoine Fuqua: Training Day (2001), Tears of the Sun (2003), King Arthur (2004; with Jamie Pearson), Shooter (2007; with Eric Sears), The Equalizer 2 (2018), Infinite (2021), Emancipation (2022), and The Equalizer 3 (2023).