About Mike McGibney Expertise I can answer questions about individual members of the band or their vast array of session musicians, or about ANY song, even the extremely rare/unpublished. I can help with musical aspects such as chords/instruments used or with style of playing or about the history behind the band and in particular, Donald Fagen and Walter Becker, the bands writers/arrangers.
Experience I am a huge Steely Dan fan, and have my own website on them. I also have a Steely Dan tribute band, and saw the real Steely Dan play at Wembley in 2000. I play all their music on bass and piano, and specialise in hard to get songs, mostly on mp3 format.
Organizations I play keyboards and do the arranging and transcriptions for a Steely Dan tribute band, and am a regular member on forums on the band throughout the internet.
Question I'm doing a talk for a sound technology course about the wonders and perils of magnetic tape recording. I remember reading something about Steely Dan doing so many overdubs that they wore out the tape they were recording onto in some way... any idea about this? Thought it might make an interesting diversion - especially if I knew what song/album it was from - at the very least it would give me an escuse to play some Steely Dan to the modern day electo musicians doing the course...
PS who is that guy singing in the bridge of Hey Nineteen? And why is The Royal Scam so crappy?
Answer Hey
The singer is Donald Fagen. His vocals are multi-tracked, and I think I can hear Michael McDonald in there somewhere too, but I'm not certain. And IMO the Royal Scam is superb!
I believe it was on the Gaucho album that the Dan almost wore the oxide off the tape, and had to have it transferred to a new reel from the company, who threatened to give them a phony award along the lines of Repeated Listenings.
Another time, on an earlier album, they were struggling with a blip in the sound on one of the Countdown to Ecstasy sessions. They puzzled over it for days, before sending the tape back to the manufacturers. The blip was revealed as a splodge of mustard from a workman's sandwich!
You could also mention in your talk how Steely Dan have gone back to analogue recording for the 2003 release of Everything Must Go, in which they recorded the tracks basically live onto 24 track tape reel, with very few overdubs. I dont need to explain the consequent benefits to you, I'm sure. They also mixed in analogue, but obviously mastered to digital.
