Load your project into the music-editing program you are using for your mix, such as Pro Tools, Logic or Reason. Finish editing the tracks for timing and pitch correction if you have not done so already. Making the vocals stand out should be a part of the final mixing process.
Turn the vocals up by using the faders in the mixing board. If your vocals are already as loud as they can be without clipping, then turn the rest of the music down. This is the first and simplest thing you can do to make your vocals stand out. Many engineers make vocals too "hot," or loud, in their mixes, but many others do not make them hot enough. If your song is very ambient or "airy," changing volume levels may not help.
Change the order in which your plug-ins are routed. A compressor before an equalizer will sound different from an equalizer of the same settings before the same compressor.
Adjust the settings of your plug-ins properly. Many programs come with presets that are generally good for specific needs, such as vocal compression or male vocal equalization. However, these are not perfect for every situation, so adjust the settings as necessary to get vocals to stand out. Over-compressing vocals will take away from their dynamic range. Raise the high frequencies two or three db (decibels) in a parametric equalizer to give vocals a slight boost, especially for female voices.
Avoid cutting out, or lowering, any vocal frequencies unless you are trying to create a special effect.
Place any reverb or delay effects on auxiliary tracks and use the bus sends of your vocal tracks to access them. This will also increase the volume of the vocals without raising the volume meter much. In addition, auxiliary effects will sound different from effects that are directly plugged into the track.
Pan the rest of your music. Only vocals, kick drums, bass and sometimes snare should be directly in the center of your mix. Synthesizers, guitars, violins, cymbals, toms and other instruments can be panned left or right to various degrees. This means that these panned sounds are more present in one monitor or side of the headphones than in the other.
Mix your other instruments well. Everything should not be blaring at you from the very front of your speakers. Placing reverb on instruments makes them seem more distant and gives vocals room to "breathe," or occupy the focal space. In addition, instruments that have similar frequency ranges to your vocals, such as other vocals that do harmonies, "hype" or ad-libs, can be equalized to focus on other frequencies that do not clash with your main vocal track.
Double your vocal track. Simply copying and pasting one vocal track to a second track will make that recording thicker and fuller. You can nudge the new vocal track a few milliseconds to the left or right to create a very common pop effect that makes voices stand out. You can also use different equalization, compression and other effects on the new track.