Simplifying Life Through Technology
SoundVision LLC is a lifestyle technology company located in Mooresville, North Carolina. We interview vendors, clients and staff with the purpose of demystifying the capabilties of new technologies for your home or business and sometimes highlighting local content that is important to our community.
Simplifying Life Through Technology
SoundVision's Services and Process
On this episode of “Simplifying Life Through Technology,” Mark, Marshall, and Andrew from SoundVision sit down to discuss what we do at SoundVision, how we do it, and the service we offer.
Listen as we unveil the essence of SoundVision, your guide to unparalleled audio-visual experiences. Discover who we are and the passion driving us to redefine home technology. Explore our seamless integration of lighting design, wiring packages, shading solutions, and more; all tailored to elevate your home or commercial space.
Learn about the meticulous process of working with our dedicated team, ensuring each project is a masterpiece of customization. We discuss the importance of communication with builders and all involved parties, delegated by our project management staff. Delve into our service department, committed to maintaining your satisfaction long after installation.
We'll also share glimpses of some favorite projects, showcasing the creativity and innovation that define SoundVision. Tune in for an insider's view into the world where technology meets artistry, and experiences come alive. Welcome to SoundVision.
Check out our Instagram to see our recent projects:
https://www.instagram.com/soundvisionllc/
To learn more about SoundVision:
To listen to more “Simplifying Life Through Technology” podcasts:
https://www.svavnc.com/podcast/
Contact Us Today:
(704) 696-2792
Info@svavnc.com
soundvisionlkn.com
Welcome to Simplifying Light Through Technology. Joining me in the podcast room today, we have our CEO, Mark DiPetro Top of Andrew.
Speaker 1:Hey, and our lead designer, marshall Schaffer. Hello everyone. So today we'll be discussing who we are at Sound Vision, some of the services we offer and explain our process of working with clients. Be sure to listen to hear some of our favorite projects. We've worked on One where we created a home theater and a golf simulator together in one room Music. Why don't we get into what services we offer and who we are at Sound Vision? You want to take that?
Speaker 3:one? Marshall? Sure, I will. I think I would have some knowledge of what services we offer. Sound Vision touches a lot of things technology and residential and commercial. From everything being your most important Wi-Fi network in the house, you know what your kids are going to use for school, what you'll use for work and what any kind of backbone technology or automation would reside on that network as well Definitely one of the most important things you can do. And then you can branch off of that into everything audio video, media rooms, theaters, automated lighting and shading, security, surveillance. There's just a lot of different verticals that we love to be a part of, and you know that can take place in a new residential construction or remodel or retrofit, as well as you know your business or whatever commercial space or venue you had in mind.
Speaker 2:We intentionally use the word design. There's always been design and systems, there's no doubt about that. But there's been a lot more design recently with the advent of shades, automated shades and even more so with lighting, where we've controlled lighting for a very long time, but now we're actually designing lighting inside of homes. Can you just touch real quickly on what that means, lighting design?
Speaker 3:Yeah, the word speaks for itself, and lighting design is not just what your generic architect might put on plans, what we like to call here four cans in a fan right.
Speaker 2:That's right.
Speaker 3:Four symmetrical recess lights in a room with a fan or pendant fixture in the middle, and that's not an ideal way to light a room. So lighting design would come in and focus on architectural finishes and places where you've spent money in your home or business that you'd like to showcase, or you know your favorite pieces of artwork or things like that. Lighting design can really change the entire feel and energy of a room.
Speaker 2:Not to go too long on this, but this is something that's relatively new to our market. You know, if you go to a New York or Miami or a Chicago or LA, it's very common to have a lighting designer. In fact, it's almost.
Speaker 3:Yeah, you would never build a home in those markets without considering lighting design. That's right.
Speaker 2:And here it's still not a thing. It's not only the layout of it, but it's actually. You mentioned the feeling with color, temperature and with the buzzword circadian rhythm mirroring the sun. You literally take that into account too, right?
Speaker 3:Yeah, I mean you sort of have to to make sure your body feels the way it should, and when you wake up in the morning and it feels the way it should when you're trying to relax in the evening, that is the most important thing that light can do for you and our bodies are used to. That. You say circadian rhythm and for the listeners that don't know, that is how your brain and your body react to the movement of the sunlight. That's just the way that we're designed and programmed mentally, and so when we can do that in a space that doesn't allow for sunlight commercial spaces, for instance, or in the space that you spend your most time in in your home office, or it can be anywhere and wherever you want it to be but the way that we make a person feel in that space is what's most important in lighting design.
Speaker 2:Don't let us get off the rails here, andrew. No, this is great information. Okay, cool, cool.
Speaker 1:Because I never really noticed how impactful lighting design can be until I walked into our showroom the first time and just seeing the drastic difference of just the can lighting on to the temperature of linear lighting or in ceiling lighting and the dimming of it, it's incredible.
Speaker 2:Yeah, the good reason for any customer builder, architect, interior designer to actually come to our showroom and we can experience that if you haven't before.
Speaker 3:Yeah, we do exactly that here. You know, we start out with kind of an immaculate in my opinion lighting design in our main kind of entryway and family room in there and narrow it all the way down until we just flip on a switch at the end and it's what your architect is drawing with four cans, this full, bright and hard white.
Speaker 1:It's a shock. It is a shock.
Speaker 3:And then you go right back to the design lighting and it's just wow.
Speaker 1:It's so much better, yep. So, with all these services we offer, what is our goal here at SoundVision?
Speaker 2:Our tagline is simplifying life through technology. That is really a staple that we design towards. Our intent is never to over design, is never to over automate. It's to provide a solution to a customer, whether that's in a business setting or in a home, that takes care of a need that they have and it allows technology to serve them, as opposed to them trying to serve it.
Speaker 1:So, marcia, you're probably a good one to ask this. Let's talk about a typical project here, like how does the process work? What can a customer expect?
Speaker 2:Yeah, when they come in.
Speaker 3:I would say our most common project is probably new construction, right, yeah, so in those cases the client would come in, because at some point everyone has some interest in technology for a new house. Right, you sort of have to right, it's everyone now.
Speaker 3:When I talked about Wi-Fi earlier, the most important thing you can do for your house and when you're in that framing stage of new construction, it is A fairly cheap to wire your house and, b it prepares you for kind of whatever you would want to do in the future. A lot of clients will do kind of the basics to start out with and then grow into or take baby steps into whatever style of system they want to in the future, and there's no really limit to how little or how much I want to do with a wiring package. It's kind of just, you know, this is what you get for almost everything, right?
Speaker 2:They come in with plans or whatever and you do a wiring package for them. Is that kind of what we're saying?
Speaker 3:That's sort of step one, yeah, but I call that step one, but it's really the last step in the process. Our goal here is to listen to your vision and help you form a vision. Our experience center here is an idea generator. Right, we're not showing anything and everything under the sun. All we're trying to do is help you come up with how you want to live in your house and how interactive do you want it to be, or how automated do you want it to be? Or maybe I never want to touch a light switch, right? And then we work backwards, engineer, to get to this wiring package. That is your step one, you know, but it's as a designer standpoint. It's our last step.
Speaker 2:Now the customer we've got this design, this wiring design that may include equipment or may just be the foundation of wiring. And then what's next?
Speaker 3:Then we will interface with the builder or superintendent, whoever is managing that project from a build standpoint, and you know, deploy all the wiring and whatever manner we need to do and timeline we need to, and enter into different stages of construction and some of our listeners might be familiar with the trim phase and inspections and getting all of that in place and ready for a certificate of occupancy so that the person can move into the house. Once that you have a kind of your wiring in place and your CEO or certificate of occupancy and you've moved into that house, and then we'll come in and decide what we actually want to deploy. You know, starting with Wi-Fi security surveillance, you know whatever automated shading and things like that that you chose to start out with, and then you can grow that into as far as you want it to be. I mean, if you end up doing a media room in the future, we have wiring in place for that and it's really easy to pick a speaker package that you like the most and you know projector or TV screen or whatever.
Speaker 2:So you're talking about a lot of stuff, but as I'm hearing it, I just want to be clear Once the customer engages with us, they don't have to like oversee this stuff. No, no, not at all. We handle all of it.
Speaker 3:That's exactly why you would come to Soundvision so that you don't have to, and we take a lot of pride in how we manage those projects. I mean, we have arguably the best project management staff in the industry and I'll stay behind that all day long. I mean Phil and Boone, and what they're doing on that side of the business is just immaculate.
Speaker 2:Well, and that's one thing that we do that we feel is not different than everybody out there, but is definitely different in that we do have dedicated folks that are managing these projects. They're dedicated folks that are coordinating and communicating with the customer. They're also coordinating and communicating with the builder, and it doesn't really stop there either.
Speaker 3:I mean, if you're doing a lighting control system, now we have to manage the electrician and how they're prepared to install these components and things like that, or the interior designers, when we're picking out automated shade fabrics and all of the above.
Speaker 2:I know that Zach says it a lot when you're picking an integrator, when you're picking a technology expert like us to deal with, that's something that is really parent amount to consider, because a lot of these projects have tremendous amount of moving parts, tons of communication and attention to detail. That has to happen. It's one thing to be able to just sell something on a price and maybe even install it. It's another thing to actually manage it. Yeah, 100% accurate.
Speaker 1:And we continue to manage it even after installation.
Speaker 2:And that's really kind of the shining star is when we talk to our customers.
Speaker 2:The most common two things that we hear is we want the system to be easy to use and we want to be able to get in touch with somebody when there's a problem.
Speaker 2:We took that to heart and on the first front, we're constantly trying to evolve and work with products and manufacturers that make things easier to use. And when you find something, we vet it out and then try to implement it. And from a service standpoint, we've implemented service memberships that allow various levels of service, depending on the customer. I mean, if you want to think of, say, going to Southwest and you know when do you want to board the plane, kind of thing, and some people will pay extra to get on the plane earlier because there's value to that to them, and so we have a similar kind of philosophy with service, where we have both some free and some paid memberships depending on the service that you want, the level of service that you want, and we can customize that to whatever is important to you. But service after the sale, service after the installation, service after you move in, is absolutely paramount, to the point that we call ourselves a service company. We are a service company.
Speaker 3:I think you know just kind of piggybacking on the fill and boom project management scenario and having dedicated people and dedicated roles. I mean it is very important to have a dedicated service staff. What you don't want is, you know, this hair on fire moment of you know. Do I have to pull my technicians off of this final installation project to go and put out a fire over here because they're getting ready for a dinner party or whatever? The case is like having a staff waiting for your phone call is critical.
Speaker 2:We feel that's important for a customer to know there is an investment in a lot of these systems. But regardless of whether you're spending a thousand, ten thousand or a hundred thousand, we think that it's very important for you to ask who you're talking to. How are you going to service me? If I need service, who am I going to call and what is my expectation after the fact? We have direct answers for that, and they should as well.
Speaker 3:And I would invite anyone to come and see those processes in action. I mean, it's all happening right here. You're not getting a call center in wherever else in the US. You're getting our team, our staff. Likely the technician on call could be the one that installed your system in the first place. So I think that's an important note as well.
Speaker 1:Upgrade your home with sound vision your one stop destination for cutting edge home automation from lighting design, indoor and outdoor audio video systems, security systems, network optimization and shading solutions. Our experienced team ensures seamless installations and talk to your service were dedicated to enhancing your lifestyle through technology. You've been here for quite a while, marshall.
Speaker 3:You'd have to say it like that.
Speaker 1:That's a good thing. What are some of the most common projects you've seen customers kind of putting in their homes or their commercial spaces and businesses?
Speaker 3:Yeah, I mean, in our industry and custom integration it's hard to call anything a common because that's sort of where we stride is creating the uncommon right. You know, you come to me with a weird idea and it's my job to design and make it happen. But I would say that kind of that basic automation system where I want to dabble and, you know, automating my exterior lights and maybe some interior shading, and you know I have a little media room or a you know surround sound in my great room and I want to, you know, have a really easy to use solution and control that. And security and surveillance are kind of no-brainers these days and there are some basic steps that I would take in creating a full blown automation system. And it's usually the.
Speaker 3:I'm not saying that everyone off the gate goes and automates every light switch in their house. That's usually not the case. It's usually, you know, start with the exterior lighting. Let me get a feel for because not everyone has lived with these systems before. So, like Mark said, some of them can be a major investment and you want to kind of see and feel how it's going to work for you and your lifestyle before you take a deep dive into it. That's probably the most.
Speaker 2:I'll call it common scenario and that's a really good one a lighting, especially Because it is so hard to kind of conceptualize or visualize what that's alike if you've never lived with it before, and before we had the experience center. We're almost having to paint the picture verbally and I think to a degree that's why we were successful, doing control but not really doing design. Marshall's exactly right. You know, seeing what this looks like whether it's the exterior lighting or like we touched on before Coming in here, you can actually see and feel that and it is a dramatic Difference. But I think you are right. It is a lot of times it stages, a lot of times it steps.
Speaker 3:Yeah, or even you know small portion of this, and I always tell folks automated shading is the closest thing that we sell to a drug. Bye, you know, I'm gonna put a couple in the great room. Then it's like oh, and now I need to add the master bedroom before you know it. You're every window in the house.
Speaker 3:That's exactly what happened to me for automated lighting and it's. We always use exterior lighting as the example or kind of the Starting phase, because it's easy to put it on a program or a schedule and just kind of let it do its thing and you never have to worry about. You know what's happening at the house, where you're home or away, right, and how it looks from the outside. But then you start to come up with these ideas of what can happen when I hit welcome or what can happen.
Speaker 2:Oh, what if is awesome?
Speaker 3:Yeah, and then you start wanting to add these switches I need to add those and then we get really invested in having fun, right, because then we can come up with some really cool ideas and how we want our Entertainer, our party or relax scenes to look and act. And do they control just lighting, or do they do audio and video as well, like, you can get as creative with this stuff as you want. That's where it gets really fun.
Speaker 1:Well, speaking about cool ideas, can you tell us about some cool projects that you have seen or you have worked on personally, like you're talking about all these unique settings and like really what they want? Where are some of them?
Speaker 3:favorites. I hope I don't offend anyone here.
Speaker 1:I just something cool. Like I know I saw this really cool lighting design over this beautiful artwork that they wanted to showcase to me. That was cool.
Speaker 3:What's something a couple of fun Designs. Lately I had a client that has this really beautiful, very tall ceiling great room and Didn't really want, you know, a room that would afford projection and screen and projector and you know there's all this ambient light because they have big nanowalls in there, and so he wanted a system.
Speaker 2:What is a nanowall?
Speaker 3:It's just a big like folding glass door folding glass door walls.
Speaker 2:Okay, got you.
Speaker 3:So he wanted to create a system in there that would kind of disappear and not affect the aesthetics of this great room they had spent so much money on. So we were tasked with, you know, hiding the Speaker system into the face of the mantle so it blended in, and motorizing a projection screen down in front of this beautiful tile fireplace wall and Motorizing a projector to drop, you know, 10 feet out of the ceiling in order to get where it needed to go so and, mind you, this was a custom wood beam and barnwood ceiling and it was just really.
Speaker 3:It was a process to get it right and Incredible build team and it came out just beautiful and that was really one of my favorites and we haven't really talked about it yet. But landscape lighting is another kind of vertical that we touch and it's always been one of my favorites because I'm so I'm one of a lawn. So we've worked on this house years back when it was first built Beautiful here we straighter home and it just that client as well was very Landscape oriented, but they never had a great landscape lighting package and this house and that landscaping. It always Like I dreamed of the day I would get to do it and finally the client was ready to Invest some money and making that look amazing and I think we really hit the nail on the head. The photos are out there on the marketing side of things, check out our Instagram.
Speaker 2:Andrew will leave the link in the show notes.
Speaker 3:Yeah, I really love the way that one came out. I've always loved that house.
Speaker 2:I have one. I wish I would say that I designed it. I had nothing to do with the design, but a couple years ago we had a customer that wanted to do a golf simulator and a theater in the same room, and this is the kind of attention to detail. Zach worked with both a golf simulator company and a Kind of a theater room design company because of some specific requirements that the customer asked for.
Speaker 2:Yeah, it may wait for, like wall treatment, Wall treatment yeah yeah, yeah, and literally flew down to Florida with the customer to go and see some of this stuff, because not only was it not here in our experience center, but it wasn't here in the area. So we literally went to Florida with the customer to experience some of this. The end result was two projectors in the room, two screens, one's six feet in front of the other. The back one is the golf simulator and then the front one is the theater, and the room is spectacular. I mean, it is so cool.
Speaker 1:It is cool. Look, and I've seen pictures. Yeah, really cool.
Speaker 3:If I still hold the longest drive on that golf. Oh yeah, I was only the second person to play, so I guess that's not fair.
Speaker 1:Well, if one thing I can attest for about sound vision is, we offer possibilities, and I think the only way to really see those possibilities is to come into our experience center and experience some of these things.
Speaker 2:Yeah, how could someone find us, Andrew, if they wanted to.
Speaker 1:Well, they can visit our website, they can call us or they can email us. I will put all that information in the show notes. Easiest way, just give us a call at 704-696-2792.
Speaker 2:And definitely set up a time to come out here and check out the experience center. You will not be disappointed, it'll blow your mind.
Speaker 3:It's a pretty fun place to come to work. I always say Absolutely Well.
Speaker 1:Thank you, guys today for joining me. This has been great. Until next time. Thank you for joining us. You can learn more about Sound Vision at soundvisionlakenormandcom. You can follow us on Twitter at Sound Vision LKN. Find us on Instagram and Facebook at Sound Vision LLC.
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