If you move your mikes away from the speakers you are getting more of the room sound meaning that your source signal from the microphone is weaker than it may need to be. If you want more room sound in the mike, then you will have to compensate for the level loss by turning up your amp or using a "good" preamp. If you use a cheap preamp, the amount of noise introduced into the signal goes up exponentially. When recording into your computer, you need to make sure that the windows volume controls for the line in are as high as you can make them without distorting the signal. Also, make sure that the other recording controls(Cd in, Mixer, Microphone) are set to zero since you are only using the line-in signal. I tried using my compaq's built in sound card, and had a similar problem. I have been told that a better sound card makes a huge difference. I don't think that the SB live is the ideal card for recording from what I've been told. Lastly, make sure you are recording at 16 bit / 44.1 khz as this can make a hug difference. The clock speed I was referring to is only if you are using a digital in so don't worry about it. Good luck!
