At the risk of getting too technical, there are some geeky things that are worth knowing. So it is with "mic levels" and "line levels."

All audio equipment has inputs for sound. These inputs fall into two categories: mic or line. Mic and line inputs may look similar, but getting them mixed up will give you a major headache.

Because microphones put out very faint signals, mic inputs are designed to accept these weak electrical impulses and then boost them appropriately. Line inputs, on the other hand, accept a much stronger signal.

Typically, line inputs are labeled "audio in" whereas mic inputs are labeled "Mic" or "Microphone."

Getting this wrong can cause problems For example, plugging a microphone into a "line" input won't work--the sound signal will be to weak. Similarly, plugging line audio into a mic input, will create horribly distorted audio.