Clear Kick = good Kick?

Hey guys,
when mixing i came up asking myself
wheather removing all freqs that blurr a kick or sound unpleasant on its own is
always the best option. i went through some newer releases an found out,
that some of them have very undefined kicks (like just raw mass at
100Hz) but the track as a whole worked well. as the kick is often the
reference instrument that everything is mixed around, does it need to
sound perfectly balanced? and how can we decide balance, when we have no
other elements an just start mixing a track (in case there is a
seperate mixing stage where everything get really polished wihich i
like…)???

Thanks Guys!

I guess it’s about priority… You can’t have everything front and Center. You want 3 max 4 elements to stand out at any one time.

Having a more subdued kick can help the bass line to breath.