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[Sam English]

Another great general vox mixing technique is to use the vox track to duck its own reverb. Send the vox channel to a verb send (rather than using verb in the chain and mixing wet/dry), then add a ducker or a compressor with side-chain functionality to the send. Then side-chain the dry vox to the verb ducker/comp. This will let you get the verb tail during pauses without muddying up the mix while the singer is singing.

Yeah, this is a great way to calm things down if the mix is getting too congested. I've done the same thing except with vocal delays.

[baconman]

lets talk about the finer points of making techno

Ain't that the truth? XD I dunno, some of the finer DnB stuff, while pretty fundamental, can be really kickass too. Particularly the somehow-proclaimed "Intelligent DnB," whatever that's supposed to mean. (I take it as "sophisticated," personally. Which it often is, like with Noisia, Pendulum, or kobo...)

[s0]

lets talk about the finer points of making techno

oh wow this joke isnt old and tired at all, congrats

[PostPre]

Boosting presence is generally a good idea with hip hop vocals - but the SMB7 is already quite the present microphone and 3-6 dB might be much too much.
You'll probably want to place a low cut at about 120 Hz. Most voices don't lose anything as their fundamental frequency is above this.
Around 7 kHz there's sibilance, so you might want to cut that a little if de-essing doesn't work well with the rapper's voice.
Generally, do boosts with a low Q (wide) and cuts with a high Q (narrow) - and don't try to get something out of the recording that isn't there - if your EQ looks like a rollercoaster ride you're probably doing something wrong and the vocals will sound very unnatural.

An alternative or supplement to compression, especially in "aggressive" rap music, is saturating or distorting the voice, which will also compress it. Works especially well with dynamic mic's like the SMB7 because they've generally got more punch. When you do compress, be careful not to use a too-low Attack time as this will greatly decrease intelligibility.

Of course it's hard to give more advice without hearing the mixes. It's like

once half-jokingly said, "Every song and every mix is a new battle."

Cheers,
Moritz

Very helpful. Cheers!