Although you can control volume on the recording input, like a computer program or stand-alone 4- or 8-track, the first place to adjust your mic's volume is on the mixer.
With a mixer, you can adjust the left and right sound placement of the microphone through the pan function. This allows you to either completely or partially focus the sound captured into the right or left ear.
Mixing boards also have bass, mid and treble controls to further the dynamics of your mic. Some have sub-sections within those three basic controls, which allow you to tweak smaller areas of the input.
If you have two microphones, you can record them as stereo. Using the pan function, you can put the sound of one microphone in the left input and the other in the right, creating a full, live sound.
Mixers have 1/4 guitar inputs for mics with a jack, but most microphone cables come with XLR as their output. This is a three-prong, rounded end, which will allow some mics to be powered from the mixer itself.