their fourth album, Katy Lied, which had been recorded at ABC Studios and had suffered when the master tape was processed through a faulty dbx noise reduction system while mixing. Grammy Awards with Steely Dan Nichols would win his initial three Grammy Awards (Best Engineered Recording — Non-Classical) for his late 1970s-early 80s "meticulous studio work" with Steely Dan on the 1977 album Aja, which was his first Grammy, the hit single "FM (No Static at All)" and then for his engineering contributions to the 1980 release Gaucho. Nichols won three additional Grammys with Steely Dan, including the notable achievement 'Album Of The Year' for his sonic accomplishments on their comeback album, Two Against Nature (2000). Firing by Steely Dan Steely Dan biographer Brian Sweet disclosed in 2018 that Nichols had been fired in early 2002 when recording sessions for Everything Must Go at New York City's River Sound resumed, having been suspended after the 9-11 attacks, without Nichols' participation or knowledge. Sweet's updated revision of his book Reelin' in the Years stated he was "... cut off without any notification or justification. Nichols was devastated to be treated in such a manner by his friends and after 30 years of working together." Inventions In 1978, Nichols pioneered the technique of "digital drum replacement" by inventing the Wendel sampling computer, which was used to provide some of the drum and percussion sounds on Steely Dan's album, Gaucho, notably the song "Hey Nineteen." This technology is now commonplace in music production around the world. He invented and produced a rubidium nuclear clock under his company name Digital Atomics. The purpose of the clock was to provide the accuracy of nuclear timekeeping to better synchronize digital recording equipment in the studio, but at a lower cost than the typical cesium clocks such as those used in military and aviation applications. As author Roger Nichols was a pro audio columnist and gear reviewer for many years at EQ, a professional audio magazine. He also wrote prose extensively, including material for master classroom use, which he intended to turn into a textbook on recording technique. He did not live to see the final publication of his works, the first of which, The Roger Nichols Recording Method, has been compiled and edited by his wife Conrad Reeder and Mike Lawson for Alfred Music Publishing, under the oversight of Alfred CEO Ron Manus, who in early