my akg 3000

why do i have to turn the gain up all the way on behringer 1002 mixer damn near all the way just to hear something come out of it is my mic messed up or what? and what are the settings the mic is supposed to be on im talkin about on the mic like is the the little switch supposed to be on the (lin or the crooked line) and the other side -10 db or 0 db im asking all this because im trying to record into sonar and the mic is not working either its the mic or i just dont know how to use this mixer

The mic needs phantom power, if your mixer has it then just turn the switch on.

If you don't have phantom power, you'll need to buy a mic pre-amp. Only dynamic mics like the Shure SM58 can be plugged directly into mixers without any pre-amplification (but they are only suitable for live work)

what they said plus a little more....

48v is phantom power. it provides your mic with an electric current that is stored in the mic, then transduces through the cable when any type of signal is there.

the straight and crooked lines are references to the mics internal high pass filter. straight means no filter, crooked means there is. look up the specifications for the mic to find out where the roll off point is. if it is above 50Hz i wouldnt roll off the bass while cutting vocals.

the -10dB switch is what is called a pad. this switch will reduce the amount of incoming signal into the mic so you could use it to record really loud things like timpani or horns or something without distorting. but dont switch it to the -10dB setting if you are cutting vocals either.

o, look on the back of your mixer to see if it has phantom power. if so you wont have to get a preamp yet. if you get real serious about recording though you will want to upgrade to a good pre.

hope that helps.