First of all I'd take it one step at a time and concentrate on mixing. Leave the mastering to the dedicated pros for now because it's a whole new way listening and working.
As for EQing R&B, you already know that the kick and bass will take up a lot of space on the low end so keep this in mind when EQing the other instruments. It may be a good idea to do a bass roll off or
most non-bass instruments but not necessarily all. If your songs are synth based like mine, concentrate on EQing each track to fit the mix...not to sound good on its own.
Compression on vocals is usually kinda heavy with high ratios. As for panning, kick, snare/claps/snaps/, and bass should stay centered. Everything else, try to give it a place but at the same time try to keep the mix balanced. Don't overload either side. Background vocals are usually panned hard left & right....evenly distributed (if stacked). Lead vocals are, of course left in the center.
In most cases your kick/snare will be the loudest with the lead vocals & bass being a very close second...BG vocals follow that. Hi-hats should float somewhere in between or below the vocals. You can get a lot more percieved volume out of the rest of your instruments and BG vocals if you do a steep bass roll-off up to about 240k but be VERY careful with this. You have to be sure to listen at every step and use your judgement.
These tips are very general and obviously will not work for every mix. It should be enough to get you started. If you wanna hear what kind of sound it can point you towards check out my songs at the bottom (click the soundclick link).
Good luck...
