Creating Startup Sounds for Your Mac
The shell script we use depends on whether we want the Mac to speak specific text using one of the available built-in voices, or play back an audio file that contains music, speech, or sound effects. We’ll show you how to use both methods. The first step is to create an application wrapper from within Automator.
Use Automator to Create an Application Wrapper
Whether you want to use custom text with a built-in voice or play back an audio file, you’ll first need to create an application wrapper using Automator.
Speaking Text With the Mac’s Built-In Voices
We’ll use the say command to create our custom spoken text application. In this example, we’ll instruct the Mac to say, “Hi, welcome back, I’ve missed you” at startup using the built-in Fred voice.
How to Play Back an Audio File
If you’d rather use an audio file that contains music, speech, or sound effects for your startup sound, you’ll use the afplay command. The afplay command instructs Terminal to play back the sound file after the command.
How to Add the Application as a Startup Item
Now that you’ve created an application with spoken custom text or an audio file, it’s time to add it as a startup item.
