Skype Mic and testing microphone for ubuntu, Linux

How do I get the mic to work with Skype on Ubuntu?

This post says:

To fix this you need to open /usr/share/alsa/pcm/dsnoop.conf
and change

@args.SUBDEV {
type string
default -1

to

@args.SUBDEV {
type string
default 0

and then you have to fight your mixer:
I ran the default(?) alsamixer and played around with it until I figured out:
Hit [Tab] to select Capture
Hit [Space] to make ADCMux show Capture L R.
Use arrows to make certain the columns are somewhere in the green area.
Hit [Tab] and use arrows to find/hilight Input So[urce] (may not be necessary, but I needed it to be "Front", so I used up/down arrows to get the correct input).
Hit [Esc] to exit the mixer.

To test: arecord testfile.out
To hear: aplay testfile.out

If you get this far, Skype's microphone audio will/should work for you.