PAST

For much of my adult life, I built it around responsibility.

I built a career, raised a son, lived through some difficult chapters, and eventually built a life with someone I deeply love. There was always something that needed attention. I do not regret those years. They gave me a family, a profession, perspective, and a life I value. But they also created a kind of tunnel vision. When you are focused on meeting responsibilities, there is not always much time left to step back and examine the larger picture.

It has been close to two years since I stopped practicing optometry, and that distance has given me something I did not fully realize I was missing: mental space.

I have more time to think before deciding what I believe. I can consider different sides of an issue, question my own assumptions, and admit when the answer is not as simple as it first appeared. That feels especially important during a period of political, economic, technological, and cultural instability.

Somewhere inside that new space, music returned to the center of my life.

I no longer see it as simply picking up an old interest. It has become part of how I want to spend this next stage of life. As I get older, I am more aware that time is limited. That awareness does not have to be depressing. It can also bring clarity.

Write the song. Learn the skill. Make the record. Pay attention.

PRESENT

The song currently occupying most of my attention is If By Sunrise.

One of the most rewarding parts of this recording has been the instrumentation. Jared Fisher added mandolin, FB Delporto played double bass, and Seth Corts recorded the drums. All three sessions took place in my studio, letting me hear the song grow and change as each musician added his own personality.

FB Delporto recording double bass for If By Sunrise.

This recording also marks an important new step for me.

I have always been interested in the technical side of making records, but until recently I relied on professional production studios to handle the final mixing and mastering. Over the past several months, I have spent a great deal of time learning how those stages work.

Recording good performances is only part of making a finished record. Mixing involves shaping how the instruments and voices fit together. It means balancing volume, controlling dynamics, creating space, and deciding what should stand out at any given moment. Mastering is the final stage, where the completed mix is prepared for release and made to translate well across different speakers and listening environments.

Jared Fisher recording mandolin for If By Sunrise.

Instead of sending If By Sunrise somewhere else when the recording is finished, I plan to mix and master it myself.

That has required a lot of listening, experimenting, and starting over. Some days I make progress. Other days I discover that something I thought sounded excellent the night before needs to be completely reworked.

That is part of learning any craft.

For the first time, a Diopter song will move from the original idea through recording, mixing, and mastering largely under the same roof.

FUTURE

While I am still deep in the process of finishing If By Sunrise, the next Diopter release is already approaching.

Sync It Up is currently planned for early September. It is a forceful rock song, but its subject connects closely with some of the ideas behind this first issue of Wavelength Drift.

We live in a time when the world can feel difficult to absorb. Conflict, technology, politics, economics, and culture reach us in a constant stream. We are often pushed either to react immediately or to stop paying attention altogether.

Sync It Up exists inside that tension.

The song repeatedly calls for people to recognize the signs around them, while another voice responds, “I don’t care.” At first, that response may sound like simple indifference. But beneath it is something more human: confusion, exhaustion, and the feeling that events are moving too quickly to understand fully.

A spoken section in the middle of the song reveals that vulnerability more clearly. The apparent apathy is really a defense against feeling overwhelmed.

The song asks a question I think many people are facing: how do we remain aware of what is happening around us without becoming consumed by it—or numb to it?

It is loud, anxious, and probably more reflective of this moment than I realized when I first wrote it.

As a Wavelength Drift subscriber, you’re getting the first look at “Sync It Up” before I share it publicly. You can preview the song HERE, and you’ll also have first access to the HyperFollow page if you’d like to pre-save it before Wednesday’s public rollout. The Hyperfollow page lets you save the song to your streaming service now so it will be there when it releases, while also giving you one place to follow Diopter and find the song once it goes live.

Keep listening. Keep questioning. Stay in the drift.

Cheers!

— Mike
Diopter