Crackling/static noise in microphone

[jens]

I am having some trouble with my microphone. In ubuntu (any version installed as described on this website) there is a lot of static noise. In the sound recorder this is all I hear. In skype I can faintly hear myself
in the background, but there is still a lot of static noise. In mandriva 2010
the static noise seems to be gone, but instead there is crackling
when I test skype (sound recorder does not work in mandriva either).

Does anyone have a working microphone under linux (any distro or version) and perhaps some hints how to set it up to work?

Thanks,
Jens

[Denis]

May be system recording from Mic-in and you plugged microphone to Line-in? Or some similar mistake? May be microphone is damaged?

Just tried Ubuntu 9.10, tested with Audacity, clear recording from Line-in and Mic-in.

[jens]

Thanks for the suggestion, but with just a reboot it works flawlessly in Windows
and I am sure I plugged the mic into the mic hole. Does it work with
sound recorder and skype on your machine?

[jens]

I have now also tested the microphone with skype in Linux Mint 8
on my laptop (based on ubuntu 9.10). The microphone works well here
with very clear sound and hardly any noise.

When I run audacity on fitpc it shows a lot of noise on the right channel, but
my voice goes through ok on the left. I will try to get my hands on a
different headset and try that.

Any suggestions on what I can test or your experiences are greatly appreciated.

Jens

[jens]

Well, it took me a while to find the solution:
Linux thinks there are two channels on the microphone in (and there might be, but it
would surprise me). However the right channel only gives a lot of noise, so basically
I installed pavucontrol and opened
Applications->Sound&Video->PulseAudio volume control.
In the Input Devices tab I push the "lock" to unlock the two channels.
Then I turn down the front right mic all the way and adjust the left channel to around 60%. After this my skype works with no problems. Only problem is that
if I use another volumecontrol program it all resets and I have to repeat.