Recording Vocals

Male bass voice has a range from E2 to D4 (82 Hz to 293 Hz) with harmonics up to 12 kHz.
Upper soprano can reach up to 1050 Hz with similar harmonics.

Condensers vs dynamics; some singers with thinner voices benefit from the mid-range punch of a dynamic design like the Shure SM58. Large-diaphragm condensers are normally the best choice for singers with open voices.
Individual choice is the most important aspect. Try every mic you've got to find the best match to the vocalist.
Shockmounting is essential with wooden floors. You can get away without it on concrete floors, but it is still a good idea! Some singers prefer using a handheld mic, but their technique has to be great for this to work well. Try letting them use a handheld mic, but actually recording them using a stand-mounted mic!
Cardioid mics are the normal first choice. They offer good room rejection characteristics, but can suffer from an unnatural tone. Omnidirectional mics obviously pick up much more room sound, but can sound much more natural and open.
A mic's bass roll-off switch can help to alleviate handling noise.
Fine mesh pop shields are far better than foam ones to combat plosives (P's and B's). Foam doesn't work as well, and it also absorbs too many high frequencies.
A good working distance is around 6 to 18″ from the mic; put the pop shield about 3″ away to stop the singer getting too close. Point the mic just above or below the singer's mouth to minimise sibilance and plosives. If using a directional mic, make sure the singer is on axis for the most accurate frequency response.
Experienced singers will use mic technique (moving around the mic) to control their level.
Keep away from walls, especially reflective surfaces behind the singer. One way of making the room sound 'dead' is to place the singer in an acoustically dead corner facing outwards, and use a directional mic to fire into the corner.
The centre of a room is where room modes are in phase. Try recording just off the centre of the room.
'Boxiness' is caused by the room acoustic; record closer to the mic to avoid this, or, if the room sounds good acoustically, use an omnidirectional mic. These mics will capture the true sound of the room without colouration.
Don't EQ while recording. Use mic choice and positioning to alter the tone at the tracking stage.
Recording a vocal with analogue compression helps guard against clipping and increases the effectiveness of the A/D converters. If anything, make sure you under compress as it cannot be undone. Up to 6 dB gain reduction on the peaks should work well. Ratios up to 4:1 and auto attack/release are normally the best choices.
Don't worry about compressing the vocal recording even more at mixdown. Gating should only be used at mixdown.
Software automation is very useful in evening out a vocal.
Sibilance (S's and T's) can be a problem with some singers. Getting them to sing slightly over the mic can help. Also, dynamic mics suffer much less from sibilance, so switching mics can be the solution.
De-essers are frequency-specific compressors which attenuate the gain when sibilant sounds occur. An EQ can be used in a compressor's key input to make a simple de-esser. They can work well, but try to use a multi-band example rather than a single-band de-esse.
Provide a good foldback mix with a little reverb on the vocal to aid pitching. Bone conduction can affect the phase relationship between skull and headphones, so try inverting the phase of the foldback mix if possible. If the singer works best with only one side of the headphones on, turn the other side off to avoid spill. Use closed-back headphones, as open-back cans spill quite badly.

EQ

For more gentle shaping, try gentle cutting or boosting in the 100-300Hz band to add warmth or reduce chestiness. Also check the 1kHz region, as this is where nasal vocal sounds hang out, and if you need to add presence then try a gentle boost between 4kHz and 6kHz. The magical sense of air and space requires a very wide boost centred between 14kHz and 16kHz, but check what you're doing by comparing your EQ settings with the EQ bypass position, just to make sure you haven't gone too far.

Reverb

Traditionally, vocals are treated using plate or room reverbs, but on the cheaper hardware boxes and most plug-ins, the presets tend to muddy the sound before they produce the desired thickening effect. One strategy that I have found to work well is to use a reverb algorithm where the early reflections level can be adjusted independently of the reverb tail, then turn the level of the reverb tail down by around 6dB. The early reflections have the effect of thickening the vocal without making is sound washy, and by turning down the level of the reverb tail, you can still get away with a fairly long reverb time (typically around 1.8 seconds) without losing clarity. Up to 100ms of pre-delay also helps add depth without clouding the picture, and you may even be able to drop the reverb tail level further if you're aiming for a more subjectively dry sound. If you have a commercial recording in a similar style, keep this on hand as a reference when you're setting up the mix, as it helps to compare general tonality and reverb settings.

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