Just to put things a bit into perspective.

Just do it is the first point. Start recording with whatever equipment
you have. Test mic placements, test other things. But most of all,
learn the very difficult art of listening. How can you know if it
sounds good unless you know how to listen?

Many of the worlds most stunning recordings have been done with 2
microphones. Two good microphones in a good sounding room and a well
rehearsed group, it can become very good. There are even examples of
records done today with only one microphone.

Some genres of music requires very specific handling of some of the
instruments. Example might be disco drums that you probably need to
process quite a bit. But what kind of music are you doing? What are
your sound ideals?

Do you need to overdub? That is, do you want to kill the
beeing-there-feeling of a live performance and replace it with
something else. Be very sure than, that this something else is better
because it takes a lot of equipment and work. In recording live, let
the sound spill be your friend. In preparing for overdubbing, spill is
your enemy. It is also quite a difference for the artist to jam along
with the group and going into a vocal booth and singing with
headphones.

Lots of questions. Only wanted to say that there are many ways to go
ahead, conventional wisdom is not always the best road. Listeing though
for sure is your most important skill when tracking and mixing.

My two cents.

Gunnar