So, is this the correct procedure?

$ cd /etc/init.d/
$sudo cat > ice1724_startup_volume_dirty_fix
$sudo gedit ice1724_startup_volume_dirty_fix

Then, enter and save this in the file:

#THis is a very dirty fix of the 
#ice1724 bug in ALSA.
# 
#The ice1724 chipset, like the 
#one in my M-Audio Revolution 5.1,
#have a bug: The left side 
#of the PCM output is muted
#on startup.
#
#This script runs at startup,
#and resets the PCM level.
#Dumb and amateurish, but
#it works. I hope.
#
amixer -c 0 set PCM 2dB-
amixer -c 0 set PCM 2dB+

Next, in the terminal, enter chmod +x ice1724_startup_volume_dirty_fix

Not sure where to go from there...