Hi folks,
My band, Strangelove Labs, released our debut LP, “On the Measure of Love and Distance.” Check it out: https://strangelovelabs.bandcamp.com
It was recorded in Ardour (except for tracks 3 and 6) and all mixed in Harrison Mixbus.
We’re a trio from Oakland, California. This album was a two-year effort that spans a few genres and instrumentations, with themes of travel and movement, existentialism, and, of course, love.
-Josh
Thanks for sharing your work.
Okay here is some tough love 
I think your songwriting is very good. It is much better than on many albums released by established artists. As the quality of writing is the key to success, don’t let it slip, don’t give in to the temptation to stop working on a song until every part of it is excellent.
In my opinion your sound would greatly benefit from hiring a bass player to the band, somebody who could also make bass arrangements to your songs. Now your sound is a bit thin for the lack of a real bass and bass lines that have been well thought out. As the bass is a rhythm instrument, you would get a rhythmic foundation for the rest of the instruments to “lean / stand on”. I heard some base lines here and there, but I’m not sure if they were played with a real bass or the keyboard. The bass lines were mixed so low that one can barely hear them, maybe you were not quite happy with them yourselves ? Anyway I think the bass arrangements would need to get some love, and this would make your sound bigger and more pleasing. Many times the bass is almost “half of the sound” and ties everything together.
The woman in your band has the strongest vocal performance, you could let her sing more of the main vocals. I mean the guys are quite good also, but she is the strongest singer.
Overall I’m very impressed by what I heard. It feels like you’ve really been working hard for this. And as I said especially the writing is better than on many commercial albums. I very much liked “The Hoax”, the guitar / piano melody in the beginning is absolutely beautiful. And “US-101” was another of my favourites.
Just thoughts of another listener, take them with a grain of salt.
Thanks for sharing your excellent work
Thanks for sharing!
I’m glad to hear other people’s projects in Ardour, especially different styles…it’s cool to hear what else it’s capable of.
I have to agree a bit with the above comment, the bass seems low to me, though everything is nicely audible in the mix. It could be something as simple as taking a multiband compressor in the mastering stage, flattening everything a little below <120Hz and bringing it back up to make up for lost volume and then up another 2-4dB. Just an idea!
Another thing that sticks out to me is the main vocal seems a bit dry. Maybe that’s a stylistic thing? It seemed to jump out a bit when compared to other instruments, but in a way that seemed ‘unconnected’. It seems some reverb could help glue it together, or even enhance the ‘coffee shop’ vibe that the band seems to have. Or even a slapback delay could give the impression of a live performance (though a technique usually used for horns, as far as i know).
One thing that’s been working well for me lately is routing the vocals to a stereo bus and putting the effects on that bus. Keep the reverb 100% wet, 0% dry and then send that to another bus where it’s re-blended with the dry vocals. This allows the mixer more leeway in reverb volume, and lets you EQ it separately so you can carve out any spaces you need and avoid any frequency masking or ‘washy’ issues.
That’s my two cents, but everything still sounds great regardless! It’s nice and clear with good instrument placement and parts come and go seamlessly.
Thanks again!