This is the first mix preview to "Fly In The Ointment" (previously "Strumming With An Old Friend").
Intended for "The Busker and the Boy OST" this is the first finished track I have made in quite awhile due to moving house and other commitments including SFX designing for work with LTBL Productions and LTBL Films.
All comments welcome and enjoy.

Fly In The Ointment Feat. Don Reece

A major rework on the original track, changing most of the instrumentation and introducing new melodies to finally complete.

Gaba (2023 Edit)

Dark Electronic Trip-hop which builds into a heavier conclusion

Shimensoka

Just a relaxing piece I started to work on, mostly guitar driven and modulation focused :)

Wabi sabi

Upbeat, Relaxing and Ambient, featuring recordings of various instruments such as Steel Tongue Drums and a Percussion instrument made from the steel casings from inside an electric hob along with the usual guitar and bass elements, as well as several sampled wind, brass and other instruments, brought together to create something to reflect the semi-decent British summer weather this year :)

Heist

Sort of reminds me of going down that YouTube Rabbit Hole of click bait video's, you never know where its going but you always end up completely off the beaten track way off topic...
Yeah that's pretty much what happens here haha.

Click Bait

A funk track to morphs into a heavier Big Beat Industrial electronic track.

Polutonium Beats

Oddly atmospheric and relaxing yet quite chaotic , with a combination of strings, piano, guitar, synths and percussion.

Bristol Beach

Atmospheric down tempo piece with heavy world instrument influence and a heavier rock inspired conclusion.

Irusu

Follows through a movement of 4 sections, Peace, Subdued, Anguish, Adrenaline.
Driven Primarily by a Mechanical sounding Una Corda and both a clean and distorted electric guitar with Orchestral and Industrial percussion.
Only spent about 2 days on this, inspiration seemed to come quick and easy for this one which is always a welcome surprise :)

Dessert Mirage

Film score style piece of music, heavily focused around various sample instruments by SonicCouture and Heaviocity's Damage 2 percussion, beginning slow and peacefully, then steadily builds in dynamics as it transitions between the various movements, shifting from peaceful to urgency.

Curves

Just a bit of fun, started as something completely different but enjoyed playing with this happy, upbeat electro-swing style :)

Yard Sale

A dark atmospheric piece with a jazzy style off-tempo beat and use of an Indian Santur gives it a somewhat oriental feel, with a Tuba filling out the bottom end, which quickly develops into a chaotic climax.
Very short from what I would usually produce and only spent a few hours to create, but sometimes less is more :)

Monttanai

Simply put, its just dark, heavy and chaotic.

Mendokusai is the Romanized Japanese work to describe something Annoying/frustrating/troublesome.

Had the intro to this one for many years but had no clue where to take it from there. All of the earlier versions just felt like they wasn't living up to the bold, sinister percussion introduction using Native Instrument Battery 4 and so has been shelved until now.
That is when I decided to turn to the Micro Freak to see what I might have to offer and is the first time recording a hardware synth. As it has no onboard effects, I passed most of the recordings through D16's Devastor and/or Decimort (Distortion and Bit Crusher) along with Polyverse's Filterverse which is just the ultimate tool for generating chaos, and in a very short time, everything just seemed to fall into place, finally allowing this story to have a purpose and completion.

Mendokusai

A dark and slow building, intense soundtrack score style piece.
The track spawned from a preset of NI's Scene: Lotus Kontakt instrument and quickly shaped into something promising with the introduction of the Stradivari Cello and Violin and Heaviocity's Damage 2 and Hybrid Drums loop designer to create the pulsing back beats.

Shadow of the Lotus Flower

This is the stripped back version of "Wind Vine", just a piano and an instance of the kontakt instrument "Scene: Lotus".
Both were recorded in one live take, fully improvised and in the case of the Lotus recording, was also modulated live during the take.
Once recorded, the Lotus recording has not been modified in any way, however, the piano had some minor editing, which was mostly removing any parts that didn't work so well, but also a few timing adjustments or a couple of note adjustments where I hit the wrong keys, but that was. to be expected as I played my fully weighted key Oxygen 88 keyboard for the first time in awhile, compared to the Korg Micro Key I usually use (which has tiny keys as the name suggests)
The piano used in this is the Kontakt sampled Piano instrument "The Giant"

Wind Vine (Piano Version) [Bonus Track]

This is the full orchestral version of "Wind Vine", based around an instance of the kontakt instrument "Scene: Lotus".
All instrument tracks were recorded in one live take (separately), fully improvised and in the case of the Lotus recording, was also modulated live during the take.
Once recorded, the Lotus recording has not been modified in any way, however, the piano and other instruments have had some minor editing, the vast majority of which was removing any parts that didn't work so well, but I also made a few small time corrections or a couple of note adjustments where I hit the wrong keys here and there, but for the most part they are the original recordings. This was to be expected though, as I played my fully weighted key Oxygen 88 keyboard for the first time in a long while, compared to the Korg Micro Key I usually use (which has tiny keys as the name suggests).

The idea was to just run with it, record a single improvised take and then subtract from that take rather than add to, which is a new approach to how I usually work.

The piano used in this is the Kontakt sampled Piano instrument "The Giant"
All additional instruments used in this piece are also played via the Kontakt sampler, including: Stradvari Cello, Balinese Flutes, Bass strings section and Clarinet sfx from the Symphony Series, Hang Drum, and various instruments from the East Asia Spotlight Collection.

Wind Vine

Rest In Peace my very dear friend Don Reese, you and your exceptional talents will be greatly missed.

This is a reworked version of the original song created with Don Reese in 2014.
It is a rework I had been wanting to do for a long time but had thought I had accidentally deleted the original file and only had the master left, however, with the news of his passing on 6th June 2025, I knew I had to try and dig it out, as it was bound to be on at least one hard drive somewhere!
After several hours of searching through many hard drives, finally, as luck would have it, I managed to find the original :D

The rework addresses various sound quality issues of the original:
- The original drum loop sample was very muddy and swallowed up a lot of the sound space, so I have removed all kick and snare hits from this, keeping only the hats and noises (as removing it entirely seems to lose the groove and feel of the track) whilst turning it down in the mix as background feeling.

- The drums have been replaced with a completely new kit and have reprogrammed each hit individually, to sound and feel like a real drummer.

- New bass guitar sections have also been recorded, as removing the muddiness of the original drum loop also left a lot of space in the low end that needed to be filled.

- The original Miroslav strings sections have now been replaced with a new and much better quality Kontakt instrument, Symphony Series Strings, which sound much cleaner, more natural and less harsh, with minor modifications made to the composition to better suit each instrument as I was now dealing with the Double bass, Cello, Viola and Violin sections individually, rather than as a whole orchestra in one.

- The piano parts have also had some adjustments, as like the strings, I was finding them to be too harsh sounding in many parts, so I have replaced them with 4 other kontakt piano's, including: The Grandeur, The Gentleman, The Maverick and The Giant.
This has allowed the piano parts to sound less harsh, but more subtle or more bold as and when required and they now blend wit the track much better.

- Aside from the major updates listed above, I have also re-balanced the sound levels through out, altered some of the reverb sounds used and better processed the acoustic guitars with EQ and compression.

This new version is much cleaner sounding and hopefully much more worthy of featuring the late and great Don Reese.

Thank you my friend, you will never be forgotten!

So Cold (2025 Rework) [Feat. Don Reese]

A horror soundtrack score style piece, which follows no set structure or key until the second half where it picks up to a more playfully mischievous and rhythmic motif.
All instrument sounds have been made using four of "Fallout Music Group"s Kontakt instruments (Unblown, Unstrung, Unsung and Restrung) with the addition of one instance of Damage 2 Loop Designer Kontakt instrument for some of the percussion parts.

When Imitating the Crow

This is reworked version of 2014 song written with Don Reese and is the 2nd rework to commemorate the talents of a very dear friend.

The rework has ditched the repeated drum loop for a fully dedicated drum kit similar to the recent So Cold rework for a more natural sound and feel.
Also the repeated looped bass riff has been rerecorded and expanded on creating new bass lines for each section of the song.
New Electric guitar parts have been recorded for the chorus'.
Some minor changes have been made to the vocals in the final chorus and outro sections.
Re-automated the volume levels throughout to better balance the final production.

Rest In Peace Don, you will forever be missed.

Fly In The Ointment (2025 Rework) [Feat. Don Reese]

Begins with a darker moody Trip-Hop style vibe which moves through various sections of contrasting electronic elements and brighter more upbeat brass lead marching band style sections, concluding with a synonymous 80s electronic/rock vibe.

Cracked ice

An relaxed and easy listening piece with heavy influence from oriental Asian and orchestral instruments

Distant Shores

A relaxing piece that is mostly based around a simple looped guitar riff with a second improvised guitar accompanying melody and various other more orchestral and atmospheric pads thickening the texture as it progresses.
I had in mind the scene of peaceful view of the British country side in the early hours shortly after sunrise, but in good old British fashion, the skies are pretty grey and miserable, so beautiful and almost picturesque but still a somewhat sombre undulation.

This is the first part which is followed by Shadow Runners (pt. 2)

Day Breaker (pt. 1)

Progresses through 8 distinct movements with a structure A-H.
The first half has a relaxing but dark tone, which had me picturing someone walking through the urban city streets late at night whilst most folk are sleeping, the surroundings are mostly still and quiet, but it is never silent, even with no one around and the roads are dimly lit by streetlights.
The second half begins to pick up the pace as it progresses and the streets start to show signs of life as the early birds begin to emerge and litter the streets with their presence as they make their way to work.

This piece uses electric guitar recordings as a base to work from within each movement and then builds on this with various orchestral instruments including: Violin, Cello, Piano, Una Corda, Sax, Brass Section and others.

This is part 2 which follows Day Breakers (Pt. 1)

Shadow Runner (pt. 2)

A soundtrack style piece with a slow Drum and Bass feel.
The composition started with the drum track and building up the undertone layers from 3 hang/pan drums, a solo cello and bass guitar, then creating the melody parts using a Clarinet, Ney, Bansuri and Tin Whistle.
As the dynamics and pacing increase during the second half, a string and wind ensemble are brought in for the melodic progression, as well as a Tingklik and the Claire Avant Piano, with some additional sfx created using the NI Skanner XT plugin.

Wind Talkers (Pt. 1)

Part 2 to Wind Talkers, built from a section that did not fit but could instead be its own stand alone piece.
It is built on the same framework, using the same A-B-C-D structure, key and tempo and also the drums, percussion and core instruments remain the same, whilst encompassing a much more upbeat and carefree mood compared to the former.

This piece also uses Hang/Pan drums to create the base undertones, a simple but energetic bassline that sets the mood and then features a large collection of wind instruments that provide the melodies, drones and sound effects throughout.

The wind instruments used in this piece include:
Clarinet, Ney, Bansuri, Shakuhachi, Dizi, Daegum, Flute, Balinese Flute and Bassoon.


Sky Walkers (pt. 2)

The final piece to conclude the soundtrack style album Requiem of the Siren.
This is a slower paced and more atmospheric piano based piece that uses three instances of the "Claire Avant" Kontakt piano instrument (1 rhythmic, 1 percussive and 1 lead) and a solo Stradivari cello Kontakt instrument in the first 2/3rds.
The remaining 1/3rd then introduces a solo Stradivari Violin, a Brass section, and percussion from Heviocity's Damage 2.

Dream Weaver

The Buskers Song Legacy

The final track to be recorded for the album which was built on the recording of a series of bass riffs, then developing the rest of the track around each riff.

Dirty Little Charcoal Fingers

This is the first rough mix of Down To You (previously "The Streets")
Written  with intention that it would feature in the short film I have written titled "The Busker And The Boy" if it should come to  production sometime in the future.
The song features the lyrics and vocal performance of Don Reece.

Down To You [Feat. Don Reese]

idyll Mind is artist moniker of Josh Gough, producing music in various genre’s from Trip-Hop, Rock, Electronic, Various styles of dance and Film/Game score’s.

Currently using Reason Studio 12 music software to produce the music with a combination of self recorded instruments, Kontakt sampled instruments and software synthesisers.

Originally learning to play guitar from the age of 14 with a preference  for rock and metal music that lead to taking up music technology and film studies during college, then further study in music technology at university that saw a development in musical tastes into most genres of music and scores whilst also taking up various other instruments including the bass guitar, drums and percussion, keyboards and various others.

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