Ive had some good results just plugging stuff in like I know what i'm doing.

I'm ready to do it right. I got a large mixer, and patchbays, so everything will be user friendly, and ready to go.

I have a 32 channel analog yamaha monitor mixer.  It makes 10 monitor mixes. Im going to use 8 busses to sent whatever I need to my interface, and the 9/10 buss as my main stereo out.

Balanced connections allow long cable lengths with reduced susceptibility to noise.

Detailed Explanation

keeping my connections short in length?
At what length should i worry about using balanced connections?

My setup will be as follows soon:

Mics / Synths / Audio Sources >--> Mixer >-- (unbalanced outs to balanced ins) --> Aardvark LX6 >-- (balanced outs to balanced ins) --> Event TR8XLs