Editing Steely Dan (section)

===Music===
====Overall sound====
Steely Dan's albums are notable for the characteristically 'warm' and 'dry' production sound, and the sparing use of [[Echo (phenomenon)|echo]] and [[reverberation]].{{Citation needed|reason=Reliable source needed for the entire section|date=May 2022}}

====Backing vocals====
Becker and Fagen favored a distinctly soul-influenced style of backing vocals, which after the first few albums were almost always performed by a female chorus (although [[Michael McDonald (musician)|Michael McDonald]] features prominently on several tracks, including the 1975 song "Black Friday" and the 1977 song "[[Peg (song)|Peg]]"). [[Venetta Fields]], [[Sherlie Matthews]] and [[Clydie King]] were the preferred trio for backing vocals on the group's late 1970s albums.<ref>[http://banyantrees.net/collector/session.html Steely Dan Session Players] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20050216013313/http://www.banyantrees.net/collector/session.html |date=February 16, 2005 }}, Under the Banyan Trees with Steely Dan (archives). Retrieved January 18, 2007</ref> Other backing vocalists include [[Timothy B. Schmit]], [[Tawatha Agee]], [[Carolyn Leonhart]], [[Janice Pendarvis]],  [[Catherine Russell (singer)|Catherine Russell]], [[Patti Austin]] and [[Valerie Simpson]].{{citation needed|date=March 2022}}

====Horns====
Horn arrangements have been used on songs from all Steely Dan albums. They typically feature instruments such as trumpets, [[trombone]]s and saxophones, although they have also used other instruments, such as [[flute]]s and [[clarinet]]s.  On their earlier albums Steely Dan featured guest arrangers and on their later albums the arrangement work is credited to Fagen.{{fact|date=July 2023}}

====Composition and chord use====
Steely Dan  use the add 2 chord, a type of [[added tone chord]], which they nicknamed the "mu major". The mu major chord differs from a [[Suspended chord|suspended second (sus2)]] chord, as suspended chords do not contain the [[major third|major]] (or [[minor third|minor]]) third.<ref name=mumajorchord_1>{{cite web|url= http://www.steelydan.com/songbook.html|title= Intro to the Steely Dan Song Book|access-date= February 10, 2010|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20100103160023/http://steelydan.com/songbook.html|archive-date= January 3, 2010|url-status= dead}}</ref><ref name=mumajorchord_2>{{cite web |url= http://www.hakwright.co.uk/steelydan/mu-major.html|title= Explanation of the Steely Dan Mu Major Chord|access-date=February 10, 2010}}</ref><ref name=mumajorchord_3>{{cite web |url= http://www.jazzguitar.be/steely_dan_chords.html|title= Steely Dan Chords|access-date=January 20, 2010}}</ref> In a 1989 interview, [[Walter Becker]] explained that the use of the chord developed from trying to enrich the sound of a major chord without making it into a "jazz chord".<ref name="Zollo">[http://www.granatino.com/sdresource/14zollo.htm "Winter 1989 interview with Walter Becker"] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20050210033218/http://www.granatino.com/sdresource/14zollo.htm |date=February 10, 2005 }}, ''Metal Leg: The Steely Dan Magazine'', Issue 14, Fall 1990.</ref> In the ''Steely Dan Songbook'', Becker and Donald Fagen state that "[[Inversion (music)|inversions]] of the mu major may be formed in the usual manner with one caveat: the voicing of the second and third scale tones, which is the essence of the chord's appeal, should always occur as a whole tone [[consonance and dissonance|dissonance]]."<ref name="Intro">Becker and Fagen. [https://sdarchive.com/songbook.html "Intro to the Steely Dan Song Book "], ''SteelyDan.com''. Posted 05/96.</ref>