Help please with mastering/monitoring environment question

GregGraves
 
I typically master my own stuff, mostly with EQ and compression.  However, I paid to have a "pro" master the raw tune, and yes it is about 3 db louder, but to me sounds like crap.
 
So this is my problem:  1) the mastering lab is crap, 2) my monitoring environment is crap, 3) I've gone deaf.
 
This is my self-master
https://drive.google.com/open?id=1BhDDlbYSKlPCgurRFMqDUJaSNBpAWLdi
 
This is the master of same song from mastering lab
https://drive.google.com/open?id=1dkcfrbcMCgUBxFbF9PN8fo3ziKHwQ3Ce
 
I don't know how else to resolve this issue other than asking for someone else's opinion that has a relatively trained ear.  Many thanks for any feedback.
 

I listened to both Tracks ins a nutshell.
Too much conflict with space (reverb) and lacking bottom and tightness.

Yes, you can Master your own Music but it is not recommended because the process will lack objectivity. 
Imagined being a plastic surgeon and performing your own procedures? Where does the process stop?

Most project musicians do this and justifiably, most don't have money for professional mastering.

Again, you should not be mixing or mastering your own music, you can do it but you shouldn't, especially if you want to have objectivity.

I do not think it's about trained ears, it's about objectivity and perceptions.

Knowing when to stop.

The mastering lab mix is crap.
 
Your mix sounds much better (in earbuds that is) but the big issue is, are either mixes radio ready?
 
You have to listen to both mixes on a variety of small speakers and in mono to test it. Check it out in a visual analyzer, reference it with other radio mixes.
 
There is just way too much hiss in the second version from the pro mastering studio. There is no possible way that will sound good either way.
 
Is the bass treated right in your mix so as not to easily distort small car speakers, do instruments disappear when the song is played in mono? These are the big questions when mixing and mastering.
 
Learning to master is such a difficult undertaking that once people learn how to do it right they often don't want to share their "secrets"...
 
Hours and hours (months) watching youtube videos on mastering can over time impart the basic gist of the process and then which tools you use to accomplish this is really up to you. There are a lot of plugins that basically do the same thing. 
 
A multi-band compressor, high pass filters on most tracks even bass and bass drum, making sure each track is mono compatible, and using stereo wideners to taste, master bus EQ and getting the vocal to sit "perfectly" in the mix are the most vital tools and techniques to concentrate on.
 
Once you get the basics down a few well placed devices can get you a pretty good mastering every time.
 
I have found that using those prefabbed mastering houses that spit out your mix in minutes are often too harsh and only work part of the time... 

Had a quick listen to both. The EQ is crap on the pro master - sounds like a 6 month old chimp did it. Your own master is much better going by ear and without checking levels - I would say it just needs a little boost in the air department eq wise to add a little sparkle.

Audioicon
I listened to both Tracks in a nutshell.
Too much conflict with space (reverb) and lacking bottom and tightness.

First off, a nutshell is about the worst possible listening environment I can think of, you don't even say what kind of nut, what kind of treatment, what your listening position is inside....so of course, even assuming it was one of the larger ones like a coconut, the reverb is going to sound artificial and choked and it will certainly lack bottom.
 
Seriously....
 
Greg, I'm a big fan of the practice of "referencing" both in mixing and in mastering, that is, checking what I am doing, or am having done by a pro, against another song in a similar genre that I think is well-mixed and mastered. If I'm paying someone else to perform these tasks, part of my communication with them at the start of the project will be to play them the reference track(s) and discuss what I hear and like. Then when I get the deliverables back, if I'm not dazzled, I can listen to them against the reference material as a sanity check, or if it's my own project, I can take both around to the usual car, bedroom, living room, backyard, school gymnasium, beauty school, etc. locations for comparison if I wish.
 
Your song kind of reminds me of the sounds that Billy Idol, Steve Stevens and Keith Forsey got on those classic albums. So I agree with what others have said: against Rebel Yell, yours sounds too muffled and theirs sounds too thin.

GregGraves
Wow.  Thanks for the input, criticism. 
 
Kinda makes me think it would be good to have a forum where people could post their mixes, and get ideas about how to make it better.
 
I'm done with paying someone to master.  Can't afford it.  and there is not a lot of money in music anymore, what with everyone stealing mp3s

The Cakewalk Songs forum.

I hope the advise we have given you, like "ya sounds a little hissy"...or "too muddy man". has helped .
Still haven't given us any idea about how you mastered it. IE- the FX used, sample rates, RMS on Mixdown.
these are things that are critical to know if you want help.

So many good notes to be sure.. 
 
For me, mastering has become the thing I am taking the most time to learn, and it comes in baby steps - so consider me a beginner. What I might share are the two things that helped me the most so far.  The answer to your question, from my perspective is to  choose a reference piece of recorded music and have that up to A-B with.  It takes some of the environment and hardware out of the equation. I would add to make sure you listen at 85db to your monitors for pop, rock, country and the like. If you have subs, make sure they also are set for 85db. My test tools aren't perfect - a set of pink and white noise wave files and a freeware download of NIOSH SLM for my iPhone. 
 
Give the two ideas a shot - it works.  In my case while  I had a technical fundamental knowledge of physics and electronics - and thought I knew each tools effect, I really didn't know enough to HEAR and translate it into the actual answer or at least, a close proximity. That was humbling, but valuable - and I'm still learning and am '20 to 30 percent better'    :o)