What is the difference ?

Hi guys.



There is a question the bothers me for a long time now, and i'd really like to hear what you have to say about it.



I've been producing, mixing and mastering my works for a few years now.

As the time passed, step by step, i better understood the technique of mixing and mastering and my works and sound became better...

But no matter how much i read about mastering, how much tutorials and how many professional secrets from the biggest names in the industry, my master is always about 3db less audible than my references.



And it always comes to that my master's waveform is much more open and dynamic than the reference, but if ill push the limiter more than i did, things like drums mainly are gonna be crushed and over limited.



For example, here is a mastered song im working on right now : http://ift.tt/1HkyIck





And here is the reference :

http://ift.tt/1HkyGRF



So...what makes the difference ?

How do they make the drums so clear and un-overly-limited and still push them so high on level with such a big difference than my work ?



Thanks in advance.

Itay.

What is the difference ?