In February 17, I was at the local YMCA listening to Rodney Outlaw, the Executive Director of Walla Walla Music Organization (WWMO), give a lecture to his students. What started out as a flow of technical information became a cogent narrative about how a sound engineer thinks and functions. WWMO is Outlaw's program for teaching digital audio production.

Then the tone of his words began to change. It became apparent to me that he was no longer lecturing but preaching. His words were now flowing not just from experience and knowledge, but from his heart and soul. Technological terms became wo...