Knowing this, do not feel constrained to follow this formula. It simply demonstrates how most pop music is structured for radio airplay. Feel free to come up with whatever works best for you. Sometimes songs start with a chorus. Sometimes there is no chorus. Write what comes naturally.

What inspires you? Inspiration comes in many different forms. Most of the time it comes from the music that we listen to, specifically music that we are extremely fond of. Many people cite The Beatles as a big source of inspiration, mainly because of how their approach to songwriting was so innovative and influential. Even if you don't listen to The Beatles I can guarantee that you listen to someone who does.

Love and hate are two easily recognizable forms of inspiration. How many times have you listened to the radio in your car and said to yourself, "Oh here we go with another love song." Generally speaking it is easy to write a song about what you either like or dislike. If you dislike something, you can yell and scream and play really loud guitars. If you like something and want others to like it too, you can write a song that will make everyone want to sing along.

Some songwriters will tell you the two most essential elements to writing a song are melody and rhythm. Melody is important because it is the 'hook' that catches your ear. Rhythm is important because it gets people moving, and people moving to your music is a good thing.

Melody is traditionally expressed through singing or solo instruments. Rhythm is generally defined with the drum and bass instruments. Have you ever caught yourself humming a tune or beating your hands against your chest? That's melody and rhythm.

Traditionally speaking, a melody is considered to be 'happy' if the notes of which it is composed stay within a major scale. It is considered 'sad' if those notes fall within a minor scale.

The easiest way to write a song is start with something simple. For example, you might be the type of person who is comfortable playing chords. If that is the case, put a few chords together in succession to form a chord progression. Once you do this, you may hear a few select notes when transitioning from one chord to the other that will lead your ear towards 'hearing' a certain melody in your head. Once you can 'hear' good enough to hum it, begin trying to play the melody on an instrument to fine tune the exact notes for which you are trying to listen.

After a melody is created, think about what instrument would best represent it. Listening back to the past 100 years or so of recorded music, you can hear how certain instruments are used to express a certain type of emotion. Our ears have become accustomed to hearing instruments in specific melodic contexts. For example, a violin would probably do a better job than a xylophone at expressing a 'sad' melody.

Because the piano and guitar are two of the most dynamic instruments, most people choose to write the core of their songs on one of these. Both of these instruments can easily express 'happy' or 'sad' through melodies or chordal arrangements.

Computers make everything easier in these modern times. Musically speaking, you can create songs using software that simulates real instruments. This is especially helpful if you are working alone because it allows you to play along to a virtual backing band. Loop-based software allows you to create patterns and assign a particular instrument to play that pattern. You can easily tweak the sound of the instrument through a plethora of options (equalization, reverb, delay, etc.) or swap it out for a different instrument altogether. Click the thumbnail below for an example of loop based software.

It is also beneficial to use audio editing software, specifically software with multi-track capabilities. You want to be able to edit waveforms and insert them anywhere along a multi-track timeline. This will allow you to visually piece together your song while maintaining the flexibility to change it quite easily. Click the thumbnail below for an example of a multi-track editor.

MIDI (Musical Instrument Digital Interface) devices are also popular in the home recording world. Typically you might find keyboards that have MIDI outputs you can connect with your computer. MIDI recording transmits data, whereas traditional recording requires analog waveforms that have to be digitized. Digitizing analog waveforms eats up a lot of hard drive space so if you have MIDI capability I would suggest using it.

Once you have some ideas rolling you should start recording them. From here you should start trying to construct an entire composition from start to finish. Rough demos are just like the rough drafts you wrote in grade school. It does not matter how well they look, or in this case sound, just as long as the ideas are there and can be easily understood.

If you are working alone you will probably use this rough demo as a guide track in the studio. After all, you literally might not have any other bodies to play the other parts to the song. Work with a multi-track audio editor to map out your demos. Save all working files in a folder and label it "Song 1" or something equivalent.

Once you have your songs mapped out, it would be best to prepare them in two different ways for the studio. The first way is simple. Export your multi-track timeline to a 16 bit, 48 kHz stereo mix saved in either a .wav or .aiff file format. The second way is a little more involved but will provide some flexibility in the studio. Export each instrument to its own file using the specifications above. This will give the engineer the capability to offer you a custom headphone mix when you are tracking for real in the studio.

Keep in mind that recording studios typically work with lots of professional gear, and use industry-adopted standards. Audio CDs that you buy at the store use 16 bit, 44.1 kHz PCM encoding, but recording studios typically like to work with higher sampling rates. Occasionally higher bit rates are used (20 to 24), but you will be safe providing your engineer files encoded at 16 bit with a 48 kHz sampling rate. If your project is ultimately intended for DVD-Audio, consider using a sampling rate of 96 kHz.