Which of these mastered version sounds better to you?

[Marcello]

Hi guys,

I have mixed a song I did at home, unfortunately I don't have a proper studio with a proper audio system, I'm mixing with my Marshall monitors headphones and some pretty powerful sony bluetooth speakers, I know I should buy something decent and bla bla bla, I'm aware, but for the moment how these sound to you?

I did a mix, then I used LANDR AI mastering platform online where you upload your mix and spits out a master, easy pisy, again I know I should send it to a mastering engineer and bla bla bla, but this stuff I'm doing is pretty DYI, I don't pretend to have a professional release but I just want it good enough.

I have two mastered versions here, which one sounds better to you? to me the second one, is much wider, even though someone told me is too harsh and compressed? is it true? The guitars are distorted to hell, I know and I like it like that cause is Rock, but I still can't tell the difference from normal guitar distortion to "HOT" to be honest, I'm quite a newbie.

Please give your honest opinion thanks

1st master

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1LK1jBQ2v5Lus0waq9tEwHaNrNQySg8H-/view?usp=sharing

2nd master

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1LK1jBQ2v5Lus0waq9tEwHaNrNQySg8H-/view?usp=sharing

[Wookiee]

I did not listen to either but I did drop them in to Youlean they are both way to hot. As they are MP3 they should not be higher the -1.0dB and no higher the -14LUFS if you intend to send them to streaming sites as they will be crushed.

If you must insist on using something like LANDR try their lowest setting.

Personally I think you need to stop using a computer AI program to master your songs and realise that Mastering is not about finishing your songs at all.

Mastering is about preparing your music for certain medium types, i.e. Vinyl, CD, MP3 FLAC, DVD, Blue Ray.

You need to get a near perfect mix, use tools like SPAN and Youlean Pro to set levels I do believe that iZotope are currently giving away Ozone Elements 9 for free.  Get that and use it.  It allows for you to set a target level like 14LUFS.  From there you can learn to use EQ, Compression ot Limiters to finalise your own stuff.

[Bajan Blue]

Nigel

As Wookie said - I did listen to them but they both sounded much the same I thought - very difficult to hear when an MP3 has been maxed to the loudest setting

Nigel