Message #10896

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Always record your vocals raw.  It's a good idea in general, especially if you intend on having anyone do a remix of your tracks.  Add effects later via plugins and or outboard gear.

As was said before, decent to good monitors (studio speakers) are a must.  Anything "consumer level" is not going to give you a true sound and your mixes will sound odd on other sound systems.  I'd recommend ones with an 8" woofer, bass is always tricky in electronic music, the more you can hear the better.

Keep it simple.  When I started out, I was layering drum tracks, arps and samples and anything else I could get my hands on to make a good full sound (which sounded like muddy yuck).  It's much easier to write, mix and master with the minimum of what you need to make a song what you want it to be.  Not to say that you can't have lots going on during the writing process, but you may find yourself dropping some of the elements that aren't needed.

Lastly, keep your vocals out front.  Don't hide them in the mix.  Even if you're self conscious about your singing.  Fans like songs they can sing along with, not ones they have to google the lyrics just to figure out what you were singing.  Though there are exceptions of course.

That's all that's on my mind at the moment ;)