Steely Dan cover- "Cousin Dupree" A humbling experience!

I love it! Nice clear mix. I like how the two guitar tracks work together. Nice vocal harmonies too. The whistle is a little harsh in my speakers though. 

sounded good to me... I'm not familiar with the original.  It has that SD groove to it.
 
Nice work

Nice, you got that Steely Dan groove from the off, nice airy open mix, good instrument positioning.  The whistle thing is a little harsh but not to much.  Good job all round thanks for sharing

String Jammer
I love it! Nice clear mix. I like how the two guitar tracks work together. Nice vocal harmonies too. The whistle is a little harsh in my speakers though. 

Thanks! It took me a long time to mix this, I tried to get it as clear as the usual mix on a Dan tune and of course it's nowhere close to that.
 

jamesg1213

rscain
Steely Dan is one of my favorite bands of all time, and Cousin Dupree is one of my favorite songs of theirs.

 
Mine too Bob, great lyrics, especially the pay-off in the last verse. I think you nailed it, the groove is right in the pocket, instruments sound perfect, mix is good..top job!

Thanks James! Yeah, the lyrics are great, an economical but perfect bit of story telling. Fagen and Becker at their best! I tried to replicate the instruments in the song as best I could but there's still some things missing. There's a killer organ part that I just couldn't make happen. That, along with a lot of other stuff is what made this whole project so humbling. Those guys are Masters at their craft!
 

Guitarhacker
sounded good to me... I'm not familiar with the original.  It has that SD groove to it.
Nice work

Thanks Herb, really appreciate the kind words and the listen. If your a Steely Dan fan you should check out the original, it's one of their best tunes.
 

kevinwal
Really sweet work, I love me some Steely Dan. Great work!

Thanks Kevin! I'm a Dan fan from way back also. This was a total blast to do.
 

Wookiee
Nice, you got that Steely Dan groove from the off, nice airy open mix, good instrument positioning.  The whistle thing is a little harsh but not to much.  Good job all round thanks for sharing

Thanks Wookie, the mix was tough, still not finished. As you and several others have mentioned, got to tame that whistle!
 

emeraldsoul
If this is you having "trouble" with a cover - ha! no worries! You are nailing this. Particularly the background vocals!
 
I didn't notice the whistle being too harsh, but I would definitely move your vocals up front, a little louder, right now the bass is dominating them, at least in my hphones. 
 
very well done! the vibe is totally there.
 
cheers,
-Tom

Thank you Tom. I just meant that trying to cover these guys songs is really difficult, from figuring out the arrangements to final mix. To me they're some of the best, then and now.
The harmonies where done with the TC Helicon VoiceLive 3, which is an amazing piece of gear.
 
Again, a big thanks to everyone for taking the time to listen and comment, it's much appreciated!

Excellent work on an an extremely challenging tune.  Most of the touches are there including the backup vocal etc.  I am duly impressed. My band tried to play this a few years back.  The keyboard player said it wouldn't be so hard... all we had to do was "capture the feel".  Needless to say, we did not capture the feel.  But you sure did.   Nice! - Dan

It's funny, when I was a long-haired rocker in my youth, I never appreciated Steely Dan, at all. About 4-5 years ago, I was reading something from an engineer who pointed to Steely Dan as an example of perfect mixes. So, I had to go find some. I've been listening to them ever since. Truly amazing mixes and playing.
 
Ahem, anyway, I think you did them justice with this. Nice clean tight mix. Great job!
 
Regards,
Dan
 

This was great! I've listen a lot to Steely Dan, and specially to this album. You nailed everything there is to nail! Even the voice is so similar so I start to wonder which version I'm listen to. But the most important - more than all the similarities - it that you really got the groove.
 
I have thought of maybe doing a Steely Dan cover myself, (my favourite "Barrytown"). But when the originals are so perfect you hesitate. Glad you didn't!

Big Steely Dan fan here  - you have done it justice mate

clintmartin
Really nice job on the mix. As a huge Dan fan I'll say you've done much better than I could have done.
Your drums have more reverb than Keith Carlock has had on the last two Dan records, but that's not a bad thing from my point of view. I think his drums have been a bit too dry with Steely Dan.
Fantastic job!

Thanks a lot Clint! The drums are a little "wetter" than a typical Steely Dan mix but it just seemed to fit the mix, so....

Sailor55
Excellent work on an an extremely challenging tune.  Most of the touches are there including the backup vocal etc.  I am duly impressed. My band tried to play this a few years back.  The keyboard player said it wouldn't be so hard... all we had to do was "capture the feel".  Needless to say, we did not capture the feel.  But you sure did.   Nice! - Dan

Thanks Sailor, I wouldn't try this live with my band. We don't have the keyboards or the vocals to pull it off. I suppose you could kinda "bastardize" the arrangement but it wouldn't be the same.
 

Mesh
Excellent stuff here rscain and you covered it really well!!!! Mix & performance are top notch. Love me some S. Dan!! 

Appreciate it Mesh. I'm a huge Dan fan too. I've been wanting to try to cover one of their tunes for a while, finally worked up the nerve to give it a shot.
 

ohgrant
 Not real familiar with any SDan except I hear mentioned often how well their material is mixed.  A great sounding tune displaying some great tone and musicianship. I enjoyed.

Thanks Grant! You should check out some of their stuff, even if you're not into their style it's worth a listen just to hear the, IMHO, unmatched excellence of their production. Thanks again for the listen and the kind words!
 

Leizer
This was great! I've listen a lot to Steely Dan, and specially to this album. You nailed everything there is to nail! Even the voice is so similar so I start to wonder which version I'm listen to. But the most important - more than all the similarities - it that you really got the groove.
 
I have thought of maybe doing a Steely Dan cover myself, (my favourite "Barrytown"). But when the originals are so perfect you hesitate. Glad you didn't!

Thanks a lot, Lasse! I'm not half the singer Fagen is so that's a real compliment (to me, anyway). The groove was the toughest, getting the rhythm parts, especially the drums, bass, and that signature repeating guitar lick all sitting in the pocket.
You should try Barrytown, great tune. You'll learn a lot, I know I did!
 

MarkusClinus
You certainly don't need to apologize to anyone for this - this is a very nice recording. You've got some talent going on there my friend. The mix seems perfect to me.
 
Love this.

Thanks a lot Mark. I'm like most of us, every time I listen to the mix I think I hear something I could "fix", lol. I finally had to make myself stop. Glad you liked it!
 

daryl1968
Big Steely Dan fan here  - you have done it justice mate

Thanks so much Daryl, that means a lot coming from a guy with your catalog!
 

Jesse Screed
No need to apologize to anybody on this.
 
Obviously you are very talented at playing and mixing. 
 
Really love it at 2:44. 
 
I don't know why I always say people should turn the vocals up a little bit, but here I go again.  I think turning up the vocals a little bit would be great.  The backing vocals too.
 
@ 4:30 I'm tapping my feet.
 
Super effort! 
 
I admire your talent.
 
Jesse

Wow Jesse, I really appreciate that. I don't know that it's so much talent as it is time and work put in, this took me over a month to get done! When I revisit the mix (as I inevitably will), I'll give boosting the vocals some consideration.
 
 
Again, many many thanks to everyone for listening and taking the time to comment. I will do my best to reciprocate!

Very reputable cover IMO.