Anyone else get frustrated at the some what bizarre layouts of hardstyle tunes? I mean the first section of tunes is often not heard as its being used during the mixing process, yet hard style producers seem to go out of their way to have intros that consist of small and weak sounding pecrussion before a huge shift in to a massive kick drum and bass. It makes smooth flowing mixing very very awkward...

With Hard Trance I can hear the pattern and without thinking and cue it off at the right timing points. I find with hard style tunes I have to learn each tracks specific mixing points much more closely than I've ever needed to with trance. I mean take Ultrasonic - H.C.M.F on Subway... what a damn well awkward track to time it nicely. A very very short intro and suddnely BOOM BOOM. It's not the actual mixing of it which is a problem, its just irratating to me personally as I love to have mixes that cross over at the breakdowns with a smooth and well timed shift of the bass eq on the mixer. Hard Style mixing seems to be tailored to the world cutting out tracks before the next one kicks in... I HATE HOW THOSE MIXES SOUND! It gives a stop and start feel to the mix and I've always felt mixing is about blending tracks together. I've always admired M-Zone's mixing style because he brings tracks in so early that it keeps the beats following.

Admittedly, two hardstyle beats on top of each other can sound a bit cluttered or wierd. But that's where the eq's come in to sort that out. I mean if you take Tamok - Resistance is Futile on Subway, this track is good example of hard style that is far easier to apply smoother mixing to.

Am I just being rigid because of the way I go about mixing or is hard style producers designing tunes so that your supposed to bring out the other tune before the next one kicks in?

Just curious to what you lot think!