Too Hi Hat

This could just be me...but I find it very distracting listening to music where the hi hat has been mixed too high. As soon as I become aware of it, that is all I can hear. I am just listening to the album 'Hurricane' by Danny Bryant and there is some really nice guitar work and good songs, but some of them definitely suffer from 'too hi hat' and it really detracts from the songs - here it is the slow tracks; when the instrumentation is sparce the hi hat still seems to be mixed for when its full bore and so it's too overbearing in the track.

It's easy enough to test when you are mixing, just drop the level down really low and if the hi hat is still pinging out then maybe it's too loud in the mix.

'Wanna be Starting Sonething' by Michael Jackson is an odd example of this (and in this, I'm sure I am alone in feeling this!) but if you listen there is a rhythm on some kind of shaker that is for me, overly loud and distracting and as soon as you pay attention to it.