The late recording wizard Roger Nichols helped Becker and Fagen achieve dreams of perfection. In a never-before-seen interview, the man called "the Immortal" reveals secrets behind his studio sorcery.
Roger Nichols and Walter Becker at the Village Recorder circa early 1970s
This piece is part of the series “From the Archives of Brian Sweet,” in which Expanding Dan joins forces with the author of the definitive Steely Dan biography, Reelin' in the Years, to explore his extensive trove of unpublished interviews.
This edition features Sweet’s two interviews with Steely Dan’s longtime engineer, Roger Nichols, which took place on September 26 and 27, 1992.
Nichols, who passed away in 2011, goes deep on Steely Dan’s recording process, the erasure of “The Second Arrangement” (“the best tune on the album”), rigging a tape loop for “Show Biz Kids,” the many and various uses of his Wendel drum sampler, whether Walter Becker or Donald Fagen is a bigger perfectionist, “swinging naked by my heels from the control room chandelier,” and much more.
