smoke weed and read.

 

Pretty much all has been said already. Watch video's and read, read, read, along with practise, practise, practise!! One thing I will add though is dont worry about your tracks being as loud as pro tracks, just turn up your monitors. Also I don't think it is a good idea to apply compression settings on the master as any given settings from someone else will only apply to a particular mixed track where the settings came from. Unless you really know what your doing you should leave the master free from compressors and especially limiters till after your mixdown is done as you should be leaving headroom anyway.

Good luck and have fun!!

 

Often when beginning to produce one is pretty much absorbed by the idea of sounding like "the record".
Not until one manages to actually sound at least a bit commercial you relax and can go back value your own work and focus on the song structure and the composition itself, many times its part of the process.