Shortening Kick Decays
If you’ve got a song (especially faster paced) with a deep soaring bass and punchy fat kicks, there’s no way they can inhabit the same space without making or your mix muddy or running out of headroom.
By shortening kick decays you get tighter low end and clear up mud. A lot of time your kick sustain isn’t going to be very audible, especially coupled with a deep sub bass. Having that extra sustain is just taking up room that doesn’t need to be taken up.
If you're not sure how to tell how long it should be, try bouncing out software kicks so you can see visually the length of the decay on the kick and shorten it. It's as easy as dragging in the tail end of the kick and fading it out. Like this:
There is a balance of how long you want the decay to be and how it plays with the feel and rhythm of your song. Be smart and use your ears. And remember, friends don’t let friends get clogged mixes. Shorten your kick attack.