milan and knowa - I agree with you completely... It ain't about "perfect recordings" it's about catching a groove... Some of the mixes I've done on shite equipment I still listen to cos they had massive vibe, even though they may have a ton of noise and what not....
Brett - as relates to my signal path, depends on what I'm trying to do. It sometimes never leaves the PC, sometimes it goes through the 01v, sometimes through the TC box... occasionally it goes through a Mackie analog board... It depends whether I'm mixing down from analog sources (going straight into the PC or to DAT), or if I'm mixing down tracks that have already been recorded into the PC, they get mixed inside... In the case of tracking down, say a synth, it'll generally go straight into the PC. I don't tend to bring things out to a board when I'm recording or tracking unless I'm adding in "live" instruments, that is just listening, sorting, organizing a track, prior to recording it to HD. I'm an old guitar player so I occasionally like to dirty the sound with old decrepit stomp boxes, or maybe I need something a bit deeper like using a multi FX box or what have you, got a couple of shiny new bits around here (like my studio partner's Avalon 737 - yeah after all the hubub about using it/not using it with a recent project, he still went out and bought one... o' course, a lot of why he bought it was cos he got it cheap - real cheap... so...) but we almost never bother with them unless we're trying to tweak something on a particular sound or track... Again, it can really vary depending on what I'm after.... I try to go through the least number of conversions/signal chains as possible. I've been able to get very nice warmth just doing little EQ tweaks and whatnot, all in the PC. For synths and stuff, I find you can "warm" the sound just as easily by using synthesis or EQ, as opposed to running through a DI, tube setup, or other preamp type critter.... and the end result is both warm AND clean (or at least "cleaner").
As for a mastering signal path, it either stays in the PC, or it goes from the PC to the Finalizer (AES/EBU) and back into the PC, or for those folks that still bring me DATs, from the DAT straight into the PC, or from DAT through the TC box then to the PC, depending on what I think the track is going to need....
And, I never master my own stuff anymore, least not my dance bits or anything critical... To me, if you create the track, you really ought to let someone else master it, as you really can't be as objective as you should. I'm not saying don't try to master your own tracks (and sometimes, due to budget considerations, one has no choice but to master it on their own). Even on stuff I send out to master, I'll still do a pass myself to see how stuff is going to sound, but from my own experience I generally go with other folk to do the mastering on my trax. I do master other folks bits, that's a good chunk of my income actually... I just don't do it on me own stuff cos I'm too close to my own work to be properly objective about what needs to be done at the mastering stage.
Just me two pesos... yer mileage may vary....
Peace All