Just recently I began having a problem in Skype where I could hear other people fine, but I was just static. After upgrading some packages yesterday, the problem has spread to everything (mumble, google talk plugin, etc.). I've tried pavucontrol, alsamixer, etc. - everything's at it's normal settings.

Built-in analog stereo is, I'm assuming, my builtin mic.
http://i.imgur.com/IaUTg.png

This is normal too.
http://i.imgur.com/8qO7d.png

Either allowing skype to adjust my mixer levels or no, still deafening static.
http://i.imgur.com/OYgYF.png

I wasn't even talking during this, that was the static.
http://i.imgur.com/9eiZK.png

I don't understand what went wrong, this used to work perfectly! With Windows this works fine with no hassle, so it drives me nuts that a random update can break it in Linux.

Distro? modules newly missing in your installed distro? (after an update)
Hardware PC modell?
error in dmesg?
please put here more information about hýour hardware/distro/soundchip..
look for debugging at http://www.alsa-project.org/main/index.php/Main_Page

Huh... while trying it to get more info, I can hear my voice now! There's still a lot of static though...

Distro: Xubuntu 12.04
Missing modules: I don't think so, how would I check?
Errors in dmesg: None

Also a sample created with `arecord -d 10` is at https://dl.dropbox.com/u/9540090/test.wav

missing modules? like linux-backports-modules-alsa- ...41-generic of following thread http://forum.ubuntuusers.de/topic/la...niert-nicht/2/

I don't have linux-backports-modules-alsa, but it's also not in the Ubuntu repositories. Should I install it from somewhere else?

EDIT: Also

Launch alsamixer in a terminal. There you will see/can change the low-level settings of the card (such as which mike to listen to, enable/disable mixing in stuff etc). Unfortunately every card has its own controls and settings so i cant say what you should exactly do if the issue is from there (it happened to me).
After the launch you'll probably see only 1 control (that of PulseAudio's) - press f6 then select the real card, press enter.
F3 is the playback tab, f4 is the capture tab, dont try f5 cause there is every conceivable control from capture+playback.

Basically you have to make sure:
- the mic is muted in the playback tab (pressing m mutes/unmutes)
- the capture volume is up
- there is no loopback mixing or the like enabled

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On the alsa site there's a set of python scripts for tuning hda_intel cards. I have had mixed succedd with them. The problem is probably that you(or the updates) buggered the sound one day, you rebooted (which preserved the buggered settings) and then restore them every time

Have a look in /etc/asound.state - it's fairly self explanatory. It seems like you have a digital (rubbish noise) feed coming in and you have the real capture turned down.

If you play with the scripts, it's "Kill or cure". It's very easy to turn stuff up too much which causes distortion. Try the asound.state first - and make a backup before you fart about with it.

Ahah! Thank you! I had tried alsamixer before but I guess the update changed it, since I could only get to a bare-bones interface. Using f6 I got to my real sound card and was able to set Internal Mic Boost from 100(!) to 20, the setting I normally keep it at. Can't believe I didn't figure that out myself. It's perfect now!

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If you use Skype, make sure the "Allow Skype to automatically adjust mixer levels" setting is disabled (Options->Sound devices).