a nice EQ is always your bestfriend, but I use compression more.
most people get scared when I say this, but coming from making EDM beforehand, I know the stereotype of compression, "make it louder" which in my instance isn't really true.
Compression (in case nobody knows) "squeezes" sounds to come out the way you want them to.
So if I record me singing or rapping on to my beat, I compress it, then play around, once i feel confident in how well I "squeeze" a sound I recorded, i test it on 5 pairs of different headphones and my stereo/speakers.
so it really all boils down to feedback and playing around.