I used to record at -6 ... now it seems a little high to me.
Now I recording drums around -18 and peaking at -12 ... I know DAW sucks at showing this kind of level. But recording at lower level opened my sound, making things less fuzzy & cloudy. On Tape Board there is some nice tread on this question (with Joel Hamilton talking about the gain chain).
Anyway as some other people say, I don't think it has something to do with your "bleed" problem (unless if your preamp tends to compress the sound / transient ...).
Hope it helps in a way ... sorry for my English.
/Nick.