Michael P. McCready

Michael McCready graduated from the University of Richmond in three years with a B.A. cum laude in political science and history. He attended the T.C. Williams School of Law where he was inducted into several academic and leadership societies. A member of the Law Review and Moot Court Boards, he represented the law school in several national negotiation competitions. After graduation, Mr. McCready clerked for the Hon. Richard B. Kellam, United States District Judge in Norfolk, Virginia. He is a member of The Recording Academy, the American Bar Association’s Forum on Entertainment and Sports Industries, the Chicago Bar Association, and the Association of Trial Lawyers of America. He has been admitted to practice in many state and federal courts, including the United States Supreme Court. Mr. McCready’s experience in the entertainment field goes back to 1984. He has been a disc jockey, band manager, booking agent, and concert promoter. He represents clients in all areas of the entertainment industry, including music, radio, television, stage, and book publishing. His music law practice includes representing bands, record labels, production companies, recording studios, promoters, and music publishers. His work includes copyrights, analyzing and drafting contracts, trademarks, publishing, and litigation. Michael P McCready Home Page Contact Michael P McCready

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From the Studio

The Three Instruments

Every working musician carries three different relationships with instruments at once, and most of us never separate them out. There are the ones you play — where you’ve lived in the instrument long enough that technique gets out of the way. There are the ones you fake — where, given retakes and the forgiveness of a DAW, you can get a part down that holds up in a mix, even though you’d be exposed inside eight bars live. And there are the ones you understand well enough to write for — instruments you may never touch, but you know the idiom, the register breaks, the voicings a player would actually choose. The third category is the one most of us underrate. It’s also the one that quietly separates a workable arrangement from a great one.

From the Studio

On Writing Chord Progressions – John

I find the circle of fifths useful, but also chord_files “Progressions” and “Dark Harmony”, for both piano and guitar, are very useful. Both can help take you in quite interesting directions, by opening up your available palate, no matter where you find yourself when you go down an arrangement rabbit hole.