Open your recording session on your digital audio workstation, or DAW. If you have more than one work in progress saved in your DAW program, select the correct session. This process varies very slightly according to which program you use, but you typically click “File” and select “Recent.”
Click on the lead vocal track. This action highlights it and assigns all subsequent edits to that track only.
Click “S” on the vocal track. This solos it, muting all other audio and enabling you to hear the vocals in isolation.
Open the compressor tool. Typically you do this via the “Effects” menu. The compressor tool will open in a new window.
Click "Play” so you can hear the influence of the compressor in real time. Compression tempers the volume spikes in an audio recording, making it sound “punchy.” In doing so, it squashes the dynamic profile of the sound so it takes up less space in the mix. This enables you to boost the vocal higher in the mix without overdominating the remaining audio.
Set the threshold parameter to around 70 percent. This means that the loudest 30 percent of the vocal is compressed. Set the ratio to 2-to-1. This means anything over the threshold is cut by half.
Close the compressor.
Open the equalizer tool, which is typically located in the “Effects” or “Tools” menu.
Boost the slider dials to the left of center by approximately 10 percent. These dials control the bass frequencies. By boosting the bass, you give the vocal a stronger, fuller tone. Be careful though, because too much bass can make a vocal sound muddy.
Move the slider dial governing the 200 Hz to 400 Hz frequency range up by approximately 20 percent. This increases the prominence of that range in the recording. This particular range gives so-called body to the vocal.
Close the equalizer tool.
Open the reverb tool from the “Effects” menu. Reverb adds ambience to a sound, approximating the properties of an acoustically rich environment, ranging from tiled-room-type sounds to cavernous cathedral-type sounds. Reverb causes the decay of a sound to persist beyond its natural parameters. This makes your vocals sound fuller, larger and more atmospheric.
Adjust the time and decay settings to find a reverb style that suits the song.