How do I use an Audio Source in a script?

Symptoms

• I want to play sounds from a script that is attached to a Prefab
• I want to add several sounds to the script instead of just playing audio from the Audio Source itself.

Cause

You have imported an audio file into the Unity Editor which creates an AudioClip. You want to:

• Attach your AudioClip to an Audio Source to play it back in your game
• Use the Audio Source in a script to trigger sounds to play at specific points in your game

Resolution

The AudioClip is the actual sound file that will be played back. The Audio Source is a controller for starting and stopping playback of that clip, and modifying other audio properties. Audio Sources need to be attached as a component to a GameObject. GameObjects do not do anything on their own. You need to add the Audio Source as a component to a GameObject to make this object become an Audio feature.

To create a new Audio Source:

• Import your audio files into your Unity Project. These are now AudioClips.
• Go to GameObject and click Create Empty from the menu.
• With the new GameObject selected in the inspector, click Add Component.
• You can search for Audio Source and select this. An Audio Source will be attached to the GameObject in the inspector.
• Assign your AudioClip to the Audio Source.

Once you have your Audio Source set up correctly, there are two ways to trigger sounds from a script:

1. The first method to achieve this would be to not have an AudioClip Variable at all, but instead attach an Audio Source component to your GameObject (or to the pickup object), and drag the AudioClip into that Audio Source Component. You could then trigger the sound by calling audio.Play(); from a script on the same object.
2. The second method to achieve this is would be to trigger the sound by calling AudioSource.PlayClipAtPoint(); This will play the sound at the position of the player object that this script is placed on in the 3D world.

More Information

For scripting reference to calling audio.Play(); then see this document here

For scripting reference to calling AudioSource.PlayClipAtPoint(); then see this document here