The Zen, calming, gong-like thing came up to sort of freshen the palette. What would the notes be? Couldn't be minor because that's sad. So I started thinking a little bit more about it and I played an overtone series. An overtone series is the basis of all of Western music. The most right sounding thing possible. Now that Jim had his sound, he had to actually get it onto new Macs. But within Apple, the response was mixed.
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For over two decades, every time you turned on a Mac, you were greeted by a familiar sound. It’s appeared as a punchline in The Simpsons, in movies like WALL•E. It’s a sound some of us tried to hide from our parents as we turned on the computer in the middle of the night. It’s a sound that’s transcended technology; the sound that makes a Mac feel like a Mac. But no longer; the iconic Mac startup chime is going away.
But, while we all recognize the sound, we rarely think of who made it. On the eve of the boot beep's retirement, I talk to creator Jim Reekes about the most fun and iconic sounds he designed during his time at Apple. All the drama, the inspirations, and the hijinks that went into the creation of sounds you hear nearly every day.
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Be sure to listen to Breakmaster Cylinder's wonderful Let it Beep:
