In the age of home recording and automated, push-button production, the role of a studio engineer has shifted almost entirely away from the gatekeepers and audio arbiters of the past to something much more collaborative and social.
Perhaps more than ever before, engineers are also acting as producers and interpreters, not just translating the sound of a band or artist onto a recording, but also helping to pinpoint their intentions and to develop a kind of sonic landscape while instilling bits of their own philosophies and musical personalities.
But for Steve Boaz – owner and engineer of Breathing Rhythm Studio in Norman – it’s that effort to figure out how he can fit into an artist’s puzzle that keeps him compelled and motivated, even after more than 15 years of recording.
Steve Boaz: The idea of recording is to bring someone else's creation to fruition. I mean, there's different philosophies - probably as many different philosophies as there is recording engineers - on what the modern recording engineer's role is.
The key is to be musical and to have taste.
Brett Fieldcamp: For Boaz, that musicality has continued evolving since early childhood, being raised in a family of working class musicians and hobbyists and beginning to show an affinity for drumming at the age of just three years old.
Even in his youth, he says, he dreamed of playing music, recording music, or even selling musical instruments and gear. Anything to keep him surrounded by musicians and likeminded players.
Steve Boaz: The fun of playing music is being part of a group with a common goal. That's it. We could be doing anything, but I just so happen to be interested in music, and that's what I miss about music. When I'm not playing it is playing it with people.
That’s my drive for all of this. It's the social aspect.
Brett Fieldcamp: That communal mentality has served him well, even leading to the formation of his band Sisteria, a psychedelically tinged hard-rock scene supergroup comprised of close friends and collaborators that dropped their debut album Dark Matter in 2022.
But it’s those same curious instincts that also determine what he looks for in the artists that he records, and how he’s able to connect with the projects he takes on across a wide range of scope, scale, and style.
Steve Boaz: There’s always something to enjoy about every project. There's always some aspect of it that I really get into.
Maybe it's, you know, the way a certain thing sounds. Maybe it's the sense of adventure that a band has. Maybe it's the just the overall vibe of what they're doing. Maybe they're just good people, and doing good things for good people is incredibly rewarding.
Brett Fieldcamp: Boaz knows firsthand the power of “doing good things.”
Diagnosed from birth with cystic fibrosis, he received a double lung transplant in early adulthood, and a lifetime of experience with the condition not only inspired his studio’s name, but also drives the power and raw urgency he tends to infuse into his recordings.
Steve Boaz: The health is a thing to overcome. I'm 10 years past what I thought I'd live to be. Yeah, there's, I guess, an evaluation of what you've done and what value it had, and sometimes rooting that purpose out from a different part of you.
Purpose is a very important part of life. I have to have purpose. I need purpose, and this provides it
Brett Fieldcamp: That purpose, he says, is about even more than the final products and completed songs and albums, it’s the opportunity to keep stretching his creativity and to find new techniques, new tricks, and new ways to approach that studio engineer role as it continues to morph and shift through the modern era.
Steve Boaz: With recording, as far as I know, there's just always something to be getting better and better and better and delivering better and better and better.
I am surprised at how interested in recording I still am. This is still, day in and day out, the reason for getting up and getting out of the house and doing a thing.
Brett Fieldcamp: You can keep up with Steve Boaz and Breathing Rhythm Studio in Norman by following @breathingrhythmstudio on Instagram.
Music selection is Sisteria’s “Star Child,” recorded at Breathing Rhythm.
