Microphone Recording Muffled & Quiet

mic pointed the wrong way?

Nope the back is labeled and its facing the back.

Just for laughs, DO try it the other way round. But then see if you can scrounge another phantom-powered mic and see if THAT sounds muffled too. It pretty much has to be either the interface or the mic gone bad. Oh and of course try another XLR mic cable. Monster cables do tend to be a bit "all mouth and trousers." I was gong to suggest checking the phantom power but the chances of it only partially working enough to just supply SOME power are pretty remote.

there you have it: Monster Cables are not that good ... :D

That AT2020 is a decent enough mic. You should be able to get a decent signal out of it. There must be something else not quite right here if it sounds THAT muffled.... Just to reassure me, you HAVE actually tried singing into it from both sides? Your comment about the label was a little confusing as I cant see anything on AT`s site pictures that shows a label that says "Back" or "rear" P lease understand I am only trying to make sure we eliminate anything silly here, not criticising you.