mixing otb, the only way to go for me, because my itb mixes just suck (well somtimes the otbs do suck too, but that is a different story).
when i started to learn about recording, i always learned that you have to hit something hard levelwise, to archieve some good iron sound. that is the sound i am looking for. i am not looking for this nice and mellow and puffy sound thingy. i want my sound to be like "whoa, these guys are coming at you and they will just chop your head off with a rock'n'roll grin". however, this mentality is completly the wrong way for itb mixing and everything falls apart, goes red and distorts like nuts (guess you all know wht i mean).
otb, and devices like mixdream and 2bus are just heaven sent gear for me, when i can not go on a console. and no, thank you, i will not want to learn correct mixing itb. i wasted enough time and it never felt right to me.

I think slamming hot levels are more applicable to analog recording. It just doesn't work with digital, whether recording or mixing.

For example, if you record every track as hot as they can go, you can never raise the level of that track digitally. It will have to be routed out to an analog fader or you're stuck if you want it louder in the mix.

I think a lot of people have learned this w/ Pro Tools, but I still see a lot of drum tracks that look like straight lines up and down, way too hot IMO.

i guess hes more talking bout " distortion " then slamming levels

if u like your analog gear to COOK , get some attys ... u can capture wild sounds @ -20dbfs as well .

A good way to do this is by calibrating your converters so that your mic pres are working harder on the front end. Is that what you mean by -20 dbfs? I did this recently and it sounded fine. But my mic pres all have at least +22dB of clean output.

I think a few peaks may have gotten a little bit crunchy, but at least it wasn't "puffy" sounding!

Yes you can use the Tascam D25 but the pin config is different for this port only.
So 5+6=Send 1+2=Return 7+8 Stereo Mix out 3+4 Expansion unit

see, this is where i think mixing OTB has something to offer.
U have the choice of crunching things up on the way in or the way out or if have a 2track analog deck, there too. but it's real analog crunch instead of analog™ modeled crunch.
i also like the ability to fine tune the crunch factor from track to track as opposed to having to pay attention to adjacent tracks on oxide and mylar.

By the way, how would you slutz split up a rock mix onto 8 channels?

1/2 drums, 3/4 guitars, 5 bass, 6 vox and 7/8 rest?

What is your experience?

1 kik
2 snr
3 bass
4 vox
5+6 guits+keys
7+8 rest of kit and everything else

guitars and keys is always al little bit difficult, depending on the frequency range of what is going on. too often pad - keys easily mask distorted guitars, thus, i tend to have them seperate.
wich onley a few channels, you can go in seperate routes, what i sometime find very good for drums especially - meaning i stem out all drum kit parts and sum then seperatly, then put out the rest.
especially with sample drum sets (like battery) i have the feeling that they really profit from this pre-summing, and later integrate better in the whole sum.