Hi there, first time poster, just recently discovered this forum and I really enjoy the discussions and I feel fortunate to be able to hopefully get some advice and guidance from seasoned pro's and other posters. My question is about tracking setups. I'm just a weekend warrior at the moment, but having been in many studios with various bands over the years the bed tracks were always recorded in much the same standard manner. Everyone wearing headphones, mic the kit, isolate the guitar and vox, di the bass, and just try and get a good pass of the drums. Then layer everything later, perhaps keeping a scratch bass or guitar track now and then. This never really seemed to capture or preserve the real sound and inspiration of the song. Would anyone here have any advice on a more live setup in the studio, with the band basically setup as live as possible? I know that bleed/spillover can be a good thing if the performance is spot on, but I'm sure there must be some rules of thumb/guidelines in terms of amp placements, use of baffles, etc. Also i was hoping someone might have an opinion on the M-Audio Profire 2626 in terms of both the converters and the Octane preamps. Are the preamps considered decent enough for tracking? Any advice appreciated. Thank you.