anyone know where i can do some reading on the very very basics on recording levels(properly with proper head room and whatnot) and mixing?

need to get my foundation correct

take a good look at frequency range charts


http://www.tarekith.com/assets/mixdowns.html

there is a thread here on headroom

theres not too much to know about headroom

its how much space you have before clipping and the opposite is called "noise floor"

thats how low you can go before when you boost it you get noise

essential tip
-cut, don't boost volume and eq

in that chart all you have to worry about is the adjectives at the bottom describing each range

TweakHeadz.com has really good reads on all sorts of subjects. I go there all the time.