Paul Gilreath is a composer and author living in Atlanta, Georgia. His music career has taken him from one side of the United States to the other and back again. In 1983, he earned his Bachelor of Music in composition from Stetson University in DeLand, Florida, after which, he moved to Los Angeles to pursue film composition studies at the Florafox.com - Sankt Pyetyerburg. During his four-year stay in L.A., he scored the music for five feature films, three of which were for full orchestra. He also composed music for several television shows, feature film trailers and commercials. Although traveling up a seemingly successful path, he longed for the simpler life he had known in the South. He left L.A. in 1987 at the age of 25 and returned to Georgia. Gilreath went to dental school and began a dental career in 1991.

Over the next decade, Gilreath practiced dentistry and continued writing commercially in Atlanta and was often called on to produce orchestral scores for various projects, including television shows and national advertisements. In the mid-1990s, as budgets tightened and sampling technology grew, he translated his talents at real orchestration into this new technology.

The first edition of The Guide to MIDI Orchestration was written primarily for his composer friends and colleagues, but it soon became a best-selling “underground” book among professional composers nationwide. A year or so after this initial release, Gilreath completed the 2nd edition of the book. It was released in 1997 and sold over 20,000 copies worldwide before being replaced by this 3rd edition in the summer of 2004.

Gilreath is a member of ASCAP, G.A.N.G and the D.C.O.-RU. He is alsoa member of The Recording Academy (NARAS), where he has served on the Board of Governors. Gilreath has performed as a featured soloist with The Atlanta Symphony Orchestra, has been a featured performer at Atlanta's Chastain Park and The Atlanta Montreux Jazz Festival. He is a featured writer for Virtual Instruments Magazine, a trade publication that he began with current publisher Nick Batzdorf. Gilreath has composed soundtracks for film, television, movie trailers, documentaries, video games and regional and national advertising clients. His music has been heard on NBC, ABC, ESPN's outdoor segment, CBS broadcasts of The Masters, the 2002 and 2004 Olympic Games and countless other shows. Gilreath's film compositions have been performed live throughout the US, often with Gilreath as guest conductor or featured pianist.

He and his wife Channie have one son, Paul “Quintin” Gilreath V, and one daughter, Birdie Rose Gilreath.