I frequently need access to the Sound Pref Pane within the System Prefs...is I possible to put some sort of icon in the menu bar that would give me quick access to it?
I tried making an Alias of the Sounds Preference Panel - which OS X 10.4.4 won't let you do.
One thing it lets you do is add it to the Sidebar (go to Library/PreferencePanes/ & choose Sound.prefPane, then from the File Menu (top left of your screen), selet "Add to Sidebar".
However, I am a huge fan of Quicksilver (a search on http://versiontracker.com should point you to the correct site) - you could install that and call up the app to open the Sound Preferences, or else assign a shortcut.