Roger Nichols; audio engineer made Steely Dan sound pristine

In a four-decade career, Mr. Nichols worked with John Denver, Rickie Lee Jones, Bela Fleck, Toto, and many others.

But he is most associated with Steely Dan and its two principal members, Walter Becker and Donald Fagen, whose 1970s recordings are still revered by audiophiles for their attention to even the most minute detail.

Becker, Fagen and their producer, Gary Katz, were known for exacting standards. As their favored engineer, Mr. Nichols played a crucial part in their quest for sonic perfection. That included control over all the machinery in the studio and even making some to order: Partly to satisfy Fagen’s demands for inhumanly steady drumming, Mr. Nichols invented an early drum machine, the Wendel, which plays a significant part on the band’s 1980 album, “Gaucho.’’

“Roger made those records sound like they did,’’ Katz said in an interview Friday. “He was extraordinary in his willingness and desire to make records sound better.’’

Roger Scott Nichols was born in Oakland, Calif., and grew up in Rancho Cucamonga, near Los Angeles, where his interest in audio recording sprouted early. While in high school, he made home recordings with a guitar-playing classmate, Frank Zappa.

Mr. Nichols studied nuclear physics at Oregon State University and from 1965 to 1968 worked at the San Onofre nuclear power plant outside San Diego. But his interest in high-fidelity audio led him to work in recording, first at a garage studio he opened with friends and later at ABC-Dunhill Records in Los Angeles.

One evening Katz brought Becker and Fagen to ABC-Dunhill to record a demo, and Mr. Nichols was the only engineer available. But from the start they all clicked, and Mr. Nichols, whose sobriquet in Steely Dan’s liner notes was “the Immortal,’’ became a fixture with the studio-focused band. In a group portrait on the back cover of the 1973 Steely Dan album “Countdown to Ecstasy,’’ Mr. Nichols’ seemingly disembodied hand creeps out from under the recording console to adjust some sound levels.

Mr. Nichols won six of his seven Grammys for work with Steely Dan, including three in 2001 for “Two Against Nature,’’ the band’s comeback album after a hiatus of nearly 20 years. His seventh was for his work with Denver.

Mr. Nichols was also a columnist at pro audio magazine EQ.

In an interview, Mr. Nichols once ascribed his close professional connection with Steely Dan and Katz to the obsession they all had with getting the most out of the technology in the recording studio.

“We’re all perfectionists,’’ Mr. Nichols said. “It wasn’t a drag for me to do things over and over until it was perfect.’’ He added: “It would have driven a lot of other engineers up the wall. In my own way, I’m just as crazy as they are.’’