diff --git a/src/java/com/threerings/media/sound/Sounds.java b/src/java/com/threerings/media/sound/Sounds.java
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..8580494e4
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/java/com/threerings/media/sound/Sounds.java
@@ -0,0 +1,31 @@
+//
+// $Id: Sounds.java,v 1.1 2002/11/22 21:54:49 mdb Exp $
+
+package com.threerings.media;
+
+/**
+ * A base class for sound repository classes. These would extend this
+ * class and define keys for the various sounds that are mapped in the
+ * properties file associated with that sound repository.
+ */
+public class Sounds
+{
+    /** The name of the sound repository configuration file. */
+    public static final String PROP_NAME = "sounds";
+
+    /**
+     * Generates the key for the sound repository configuration file in
+     * the package associated with the class. For example, if a the class
+     * <code>com.threerings.happy.fun.GameSounds</code> were supplied to
+     * this method, it would return
+     * <code>com.threerings.happy.fun.sounds</code> which would reference
+     * a <code>sounds.properties</code> file in the
+     * <code>com.threerings.happy.fun</code> package.
+     */
+    protected static String makeKey (Class clazz)
+    {
+        String cname = clazz.getName();
+        int didx = cname.lastIndexOf(".");
+        return (didx != -1) ? cname.substring(0, didx) : "";
+    }
+}