One of the most frustrating issues many producers encounter is a muddy or undefined low end in their mixes. Producers run into this problem because the instruments occupying the 20hz to 400hz frequency range of their mix are having a conflict catastrophe.
The reality is 20hz – 400hz is the most difficult frequency range for us to master because our hearing isn’t as adapted to noticing details in it.
In order to avoid this temporary, but inherent weakness in our low end hearing there is one simple rule we can follow—The Rule of 300.
The rule of 300 states that if it isn’t bass, kick or snare, then you must high pass those instruments at 300hz or higher.
The higher you can get away with the better for your mix.
This rule eliminates the main causes of a muddy mix because as you now know we run into this problem when our 20hz to 400hz range is swamped by too many competing instruments.
When professional mixers talk about balance they mean it as if there’s a balance scale in front of you and so imagine on the one end there is something heavy, and the other has something light. And like the balance scale you must decide and be very selective about which instrument(s) are frequency ‘heavy’ and which ones are frequency ‘light.’
Balance just means that it sounds pleasing to you, but when mixers talk about balance they mean that you’re decisive about which instruments get to be frequency dense and which one’s get to be frequency light in a given frequency zone.
By following this rule your mixes will immediately start occupying the top 5% of mixes out there.