Whats your reference when mixing or mastering

Whats your favorite reference instrumental when you mix or before you mastering?
Or you just go and hope that your final track will be as loud like any proffesional track.

Before i start makin a beat i often listen to old favorites like Gangstarrs Full Clip or Kev Browns Powerbars just to get inspired and happy
When mixing i only concentrate to get the levels and the EQ right without any references.( And peak at -6 to -3 before mastering)

And then comes the tricky part when you going to master it. Now the loudness war seems pointless but i could confess that i am a victim of it.
I mean i dont want my beats to be lower than everything els but i dont want to squash the shit out of it either like a older Snowgoon beat.
And to have a good reference beat along and a good limiter with RMS level mayby makes it easier to get the levels and loudness right.

And final, are there better sites than Soundcloud that transcode it better than to 128kb mp3 ??

I would encourage you to shy away from using a static reference for a completed mix. Each mix is different even if they are both boom bap joints. You don't want to get in the habit of going for the same mix or doing the same thing to each beat.

If I use any "reference" it's the source material itself, I listen to it and think "ok what are the qualities I want to exenuate, and what are my muddy problem areas." Of course it dosnt hurt to be inspired by someone else's mix, often times I listen to a good hip hop mix and I'll want to experiment with compression on drums etc in my own mix. But never ever a static track I revisit as an end goal.

If your hoping for consistency, go for the same effect I.e adding punch to the kick drum or whatever then be aware that having a consistent mix won't mean doing the same thing to the same frequency range each time. For instance I always add a little punch to the kick drum, but adding punch or thump to an 808 kick versus a real life kick drum would be two entirely different processes.

As far as the loudness goes, just don't squash your shit like you said and your good. I associate dynamic range with a higher production value even if its some wonky garage instrumental. Still sounds more legit to me than some ultra compressed radio shit.

Yeah man, you're halfway there when you reference your favorite tracks. I mean, thats where the idea to produce came from right? Sho u right. Study the formulas and develope your own mixes.