The Iowa Photo: Reflections

Dec. 25, 2022 5:00 am

Producer Richard Schultz sits at the board as Antonio “Tone da Boss” Chalmers (not pictured) records vocals at The Sound Box Recording Studio in Cedar Rapids, Iowa on Tuesday, December 13, 2022. Chalmers was working on the mix and recording of his single “Stick Up” with Chi Song Writer. (Nick Rohlman/The Gazette)

Antonio “Tone da Boss” Chalmers looks over the mix as he records vocals at The Sound Box Recording Studio in Cedar Rapids, Iowa on Tuesday, December 13, 2022. Chalmers was working on the mix and recording of his single “Stick Up” with Chi Song Writer. (Nick Rohlman/The Gazette)

Music can be a very difficult thing to illustrate with a still photograph. Faced with the task of photographing the recording of a song, I started with straightforward photos of Producer Richard Schultz sitting at the board and Antonio “Tone da Boss” Chalmers rapping into the microphone. I noticed that as the two were working, they were constantly referring to the audio mix on screens both at the board and in the recording booth, and I was drawn to the screens. The mix displayed on the screens represented an opportunity to actually photograph the song itself in a way. The elements of the song displayed on the monitors combined with the reflections of the producer and artist made for an interesting pair of photographs that illustrate the process of assembling a song.