What Is a Startup Sound?
A startup sound is the short piece of audio a device or piece of software plays when it powers on or launches, confirming the system is ready and stamping the moment with the maker’s identity. It is one of the oldest forms of product sonic branding.
Startup Sound in Practice
The two most celebrated examples bookend the personal computer era. Apple’s Mac startup chime, created by sound designer Jim Reekes for the early 1990s Quadra machines, became one of computing’s most familiar sounds. For Windows 95, Microsoft commissioned Brian Eno, who composed dozens of tiny pieces before delivering The Microsoft Sound, a few seconds of ambient welcome heard on hundreds of millions of machines. A startup sound works as ritual: it plays at a moment of anticipation, repeats daily, and becomes inseparable from the product. Brands therefore treat power-on audio as prime sonic real estate, from games consoles to electric vehicles, and Apple’s own decision to remove the chime in 2016, then restore it in 2020, showed how much users missed it.
Famous Example
Brian Eno’s Windows 95 startup sound and the Mac startup chime.
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- Shepard Tone
- Skeuomorphic Sound
- Sonic
- Sonic Audit
- Sonic Brand Guidelines
- Sonic Branding
- Sonic DNA
- Sonic Identity
- Sonic Logo
- Sonic Palette
- Sonification
- Sound Branding
- Sound Design
- Sound Effect (SFX)
- Sound Symbolism
- Sound Trademark
- Sound-alike
- Soundscape
- Spatial Audio
- Startup Sound
- Stem
- Sting
- Sung Slogan
- Sync Licensing
- Synthetic Voice
A memorable jingle is one tool within a brand’s wider sonic branding.
