@gentooP if you're using a dynamic mic then yeah it will probably take max gain (i read m-audio and some have particularly weak amplifiers) and you have to shove it right up in your face. this is something of a feature of those micrphones more than a bug. if you put a fethead/cloudlifter/otherwise inline amplifier, it starts to turn slowly back in to a condenser mic (and the inline amps require phantom gain like a condenser anyway)