Mixing Rap/Hip-Hop vocals...

[Th0mas]

I'm currently using Cool Edit Pro, a MultiMix12 - Firewire, a ART Pro Channel Pre-Amp, and a Rode NTK to record my vocals. I can get them to sound decent, but nowhere near where my equipment is supposed to sound, if that makes any sense. I've heard I can improve on my mixing techniques, but the question still remains... how?

As I'm using Cool Edit Pro 2.1, here's what I do.

Steps:
1. Compression
2. Parametric EQ
3. Normalize
4. Reverb

Those, from what I've learned, are the basics to mixing. However, I'm still stumped because as much as I try different settings on each of these, I still can't get that "realistic" sound, for example, my voice is sort of deep, but the way I mix, I find that my voice has much hiss or treble in it, and when I try reducing it, my vocals sound dull.

It's fairly depressing, hence the fact that whenever I have lyrics written, I have no amibition to record them due to a lack of mixing knowledge.

Does anybody have any ideas, or guidelines for me to follow through with? I know everybody has a different voice, and I have to find my own little style, but I definitely need some help here because this is getting rediculous.

Thank you.

Edit: Samples of my audios are at... myspace.com/TommyKost -OR- for better quality than the shit myspace player, soundclick.com/TommyKost

[Massive Master]

Few "rules" except to get the core sound the way you want it. There's no "fix" for that.

Otherwise, guidelines: Corrective EQ before compression - Almost without fail.

Normalize? Nothing. Ever. It's a completely nonsensical thing that I'm still surprised is included in modern software. Use up *all* your headroom on *one* track in a mix? It's insane from the start. The average vocal track should probably peak at -12 or -10dBFS.

That said - If you're recording too hot, that could be half your problem from the start...