Pearl of the Quarter

[Mark Kaufman]

Here's a cover of a Steely Dan song I've always wanted to try. http://soundclick.com/share?songid=7475815Pearl of the QuarterWalter Becker and Donald FagenOn the water down in New OrleansMy baby's the pearl of the quarterShe's a charmer like you never seenSinging voulez voulez voulez vousWhere the sailor spends his hard-earned payRed beans and rice for a quarterYou can see her almost any daySinging voulez voulez voulez vousAnd if you hear from my LouiseWon't you tell her I say helloPlease make it clearWhen her day is doneShe got a place to goI walked alone down the miracle mileI met my baby by the shine of the martyrShe stole my heart with her Cajun smileSinging voulez voulez voulez vousShe loved the million dollar words I sayShe loved the candy and the flowers that I bought herShe said she loved me and was on her waySinging voulez voulez voulez vousAnd if you hear from my LouiseWon't you tell her I love her soPlease make it clearWhen her day is doneShe got a place to goAnd if you hear from my LouiseWon't you tell her I love her soPlease make it clearWhen her day is doneShe got a place to go

[ideascapes]

Mark,I've always been a huge Steely Dan fan, so this was fun to listen to and an interesting choice of a song to cover (semi-obscure cut from second album). When I play gigs out and about (even solo piano), I'll often play Josie, Peg, Deacon Blues, My Old School, Black Friday...so much fun!You've done a good job with the guitars and especially the vocals on this. Only nit was the bass seemed out of time during the ritard at the end.Are you using EZDrummer? I'd send them to a distortion and/or amp sim bus to dirty them up a little.Good job!Vince

[billg]

This is a really good job Mark, especially the vocals!

[Mark Kaufman]

Thanks Vince and Bill!Vince, I'm a huge fan too, so the usual hit just won't do...too many buried treasures to ignore. When I sat down to record this, I kept waffling back and forth between this and "Any Major Dude", but finally opted for the more obscure. Thanks for the advice, I'm applying it right now...got the bass sync corrected, working on grit and dirt...not as easy with my limited plug ins.Bill, you inspired this notion of embracing covers for purposes other than just fun and learning, and I see listings for them even now, so I'm going to try to keep cranking them out here and there. Material is material, right?Thanks!

[jeffgreenleaf]

great job! I used to play guitar in a steely dan cover band. It was really tricky learning the jazzy chords!

[Mark Kaufman]

Wow, Jeff, I can't imagine playing a bunch of their songs live...it was hard enough just recording. I bow to you.

[mazz]

Great job, Mark!!Cool choice of tune! Another couple of favs from that album are: The Boston Rag and Razor Boy (with Ray Brown on bass!!).My only beef with your version has to do with the drums:Your snare is bright in the wrong frequency range, that's the only way I can describe it. For some reason it makes the drums sound not as convincing as they could be. The part is good but the snare sounds wrong to my ears for some reason. I think the snare on the original recording had some "air" EQ added to it, like 12K and above, but under that it's pretty dull sounding. It could be the room tone you have on the drums is a bit too bright, on the original they're really dry, as was the fashion in the 70s.. Anyway, the snare on the original has a bit more "snare" in it and not as much depth and yours is kind of the opposite. I know that's pretty nit-picky because otherwise I think you nailed it, it's a very good re-creation of the original piece, for sure.From one Dan fan to another, great job!! Very fun!!Mazz

[Mark Kaufman]

Mar 31, 2009, 1:05pm, mazz wrote:Great job, Mark!!Cool choice of tune! Another couple of favs from that album are: The Boston Rag and Razor Boy (with Ray Brown on bass!!).My only beef with your version has to do with the drums:Your snare is bright in the wrong frequency range, that's the only way I can describe it. For some reason it makes the drums sound not as convincing as they could be. The part is good but the snare sounds wrong to my ears for some reason. I think the snare on the original recording had some "air" EQ added to it, like 12K and above, but under that it's pretty dull sounding. It could be the room tone you have on the drums is a bit too bright, on the original they're really dry, as was the fashion in the 70s.. Anyway, the snare on the original has a bit more "snare" in it and not as much depth and yours is kind of the opposite. I know that's pretty nit-picky because otherwise I think you nailed it, it's a very good re-creation of the original piece, for sure.From one Dan fan to another, great job!! Very fun!!MazzMazz, I'll take a thumbs up from you any day. Thanks!I agree about the drums, and I'll try to figure it out...I agonize over that stuff, and I'm like a driver who never took lessons, so I fumble about until something sounds right...not exactly a pro engineer's approach. I may have been closer to it days ago, before mastering the mix. Somehow need to keep it dry without being dull, crisp without being too trebly.Funny, I thought most of the crits would be about the faked pedal steel...Skunk Baxter I am not. I pieced those parts together by playing one string at a time on my Strat---no slide, just bending notes on the frets---then using fading ins and outs to lose most of the plucks. Thanks for the help! Much appreciated.-Mark

[ideascapes]

Mark,I meant to ask you about the pedal steel--it's pretty darn good and the story on how you did it is pretty amazing. I met Skunk Baxter last year at a party--all I wanted to talk about was Steely Dan (I caught them by accident in '72 when they were opening for Cheech and Chong!!--I was 13 at the time) and all he wanted to talk about was missile defense...Did get to jam a little, which was cool.V>

[mazz]

Mar 31, 2009, 2:07pm, lyle wrote:Mar 31, 2009, 1:05pm, mazz wrote:Great job, Mark!!Cool choice of tune! Another couple of favs from that album are: The Boston Rag and Razor Boy (with Ray Brown on bass!!).My only beef with your version has to do with the drums:Your snare is bright in the wrong frequency range, that's the only way I can describe it. For some reason it makes the drums sound not as convincing as they could be. The part is good but the snare sounds wrong to my ears for some reason. I think the snare on the original recording had some "air" EQ added to it, like 12K and above, but under that it's pretty dull sounding. It could be the room tone you have on the drums is a bit too bright, on the original they're really dry, as was the fashion in the 70s.. Anyway, the snare on the original has a bit more "snare" in it and not as much depth and yours is kind of the opposite. I know that's pretty nit-picky because otherwise I think you nailed it, it's a very good re-creation of the original piece, for sure.From one Dan fan to another, great job!! Very fun!!MazzMazz, I'll take a thumbs up from you any day. Thanks!I agree about the drums, and I'll try to figure it out...I agonize over that stuff, and I'm like a driver who never took lessons, so I fumble about until something sounds right...not exactly a pro engineer's approach. I may have been closer to it days ago, before mastering the mix. Somehow need to keep it dry without being dull, crisp without being too trebly.Funny, I thought most of the crits would be about the faked pedal steel...Skunk Baxter I am not. I pieced those parts together by playing one string at a time on my Strat---no slide, just bending notes on the frets---then using fading ins and outs to lose most of the plucks. Thanks for the help! Much appreciated.-MarkWow, that's a labor of love on those steel parts!! It doesn't sound exactly like a steel but it's cool enough to my ears that it doesn't matter.Here's a challenge for you:Take another Dan song and completely do your own interpretation of it. Not a "lift" like you did here, which was great, but actually take it in a new direction. Like a hyper-punk version of "Do It Again" or a down tempo acid jazz version of "Reelin In the Years" or something like that. I'd love to hear it!!Great stuff!!Mazz