Team CSD
Hear from a few members of our team on steak, linear phase, and more.
We talk a lot about the science behind the art. But science doesn’t happen in a vacuum. It happens through people. Group texts. And steak dinners.
People who listen to rooms, argue about speaker placement, geek out over gain structure and lose sleep over whether a congregation can hear each other sing.
For this team post, we asked some of our people three questions: What inspires you? What would you do with a client on an unlimited dinner budget? And if you had to remove one AVL system from a project, which one goes?
The answers tell you more about who we are than any capabilities deck ever could.
What Inspires Us
If you spend five minutes or five hours with our team, you’ll notice something: nobody here talks about gear first. They talk about people. Problems. Rooms. The challenge of making something difficult feel effortless.
"I’m primarily an audio guy, so I’m obsessed with audio. I’m obsessed with linear phase. I love the challenge of taking difficult rooms and making sure the audio comes through cleanly, with clarity and intelligibility. Audio is science. It’s physics. It’s measurable. And that’s what gets me excited." — Daryl Porter
That’s the thread that runs through CSD. Whether it’s audio, lighting, video, or acoustic design, every discipline here is grounded in something measurable. But the reason we measure it is human. We measure it because someone in the room needs to hear clearly, see clearly, and feel something real.
"For my favorite discipline, I think I’m going to have to go with lighting design. Even as an audio engineer, there’s something about lighting design. Highlighting the space, especially when there’s excellent architecture, is just something I absolutely love. I’m a very visually oriented person, so being able to play with color and light and dynamics to translate what I hear in the music to a visual medium is just so gratifying." — Mike DeFraties
Mike is an audio engineer who gets most excited about lighting. That’s not a contradiction, it’s the whole point. At CSD, we don’t think in silos. Audio, video, lighting, and acoustics are one system serving one purpose: helping people connect with the message.
"I work with some incredibly talented people that motivate me… not just in my job, but I want to take that knowledge and bring it home and teach my kids. I think you want to leave this place better than you found it. Whether it’s a church, a client, wherever you find yourself, this knowledge that you’ve obtained isn’t yours. I’ve never looked at what I have as mine. It’s not Dax and his hard work. I shouldn’t be where I am today. And I truly believe it’s not my intellectual property, but it’s mine to give away because it is a gift of God." — Dax Pogue
Dax is a man who believes knowledge is stewardship. And it shapes how he shows up on every project.
"I gain a lot of inspiration from clients. We have a few relationships where we have group texts going. We’re constantly sharing tips and tricks, setups, side projects, and things over the weekend. I’m constantly learning through those. I love the client relationships where we get to push each other and make each other better and challenge each other." — Cory Hall
Cory’s not describing a vendor-client relationship. He’s describing a partnership. That’s intentional. At CSD, the project doesn’t end at commissioning. The best client relationships are the ones that keep teaching both sides long after the install is done.
The Great Scotts: An AVL Debate
We asked the team a question designed to start an argument: If you had to remove one system from a project, audio, video, or lighting, which one goes?
It worked. And our two Scotts had two great answers.
"If I had to remove one system from a project, audio, video, or lighting, it’s got to be video. Don’t get me wrong, I love big screens, I love crisp imagery, I love all of that. But without audio, the message is unheard. Without lighting, you don’t have the environment, the atmosphere that drives someone to focus on the message. Video just enhances the experience. It is not the experience. That’s one of the things I love about CSD. We’re able to take a system and make it to where people don’t walk into the room and notice technology. They get to experience the technology, experience the atmosphere we’re helping generate." — Scott Boroff
"If I had to pick between audio, video, and lighting (what I would not put into a project) I’d actually pick lighting. But I feel like this is a trick question. I’d put so much video in the project you wouldn’t even need any lighting." — Scott Vegte
Two people. Opposite answers. Both right in their own way, even if the craft veteran got, well, crafty. Scott Boroff sees video as the enhancer, not the driver. Scott Vegte sees video as so powerful it can do double duty (well, maybe). The disagreement is the point. At CSD, every project is custom. There is no default answer. There’s only the right answer for your space, your audience, and your message.
It’s Dinner Time
Technology is what we do. But relationships are how we do it.
We asked a couple of our team members what they’d do if they could take a client to dinner with no budget limit. Nobody talked about impressing people with price tags. They talked about connection.
"I would take them someplace they would always remember. My objective is to make them feel important. I want them to remember the event." — Brent Mullett
"Anybody that follows me knows I love steak. Just look at my social media. I post pictures of my food all the time. How strange is that? But it’s a conversation starter. When I meet clients, they’re like, ‘Hey, where was the last steak place you went?’ or ‘Hey, can we go get a steak?’ It’s connecting with the client on a personal level beyond just the project itself." — Dave Singer
Dave posts his steaks on social media. Brent wants you to feel like the most important person in the room. Different styles, same instinct: this work is personal, and the relationships matter as much as the results.
From Vision to Reality
Every project at CSD starts the same way: with listening. Not to the specs. Not to the wishlist. To the vision.
"One of my favorite things is to meet with a client and begin with a vision. I want to hear what they want to accomplish in their ministry, their venue, their space. And then help it come to a realization. Meet all of their technological goals, their desires, and ultimately match that with the DNA of who they are and what they want to be. I love coming alongside people to help them get the right equipment, the right design, and just see it from beginning to end." — Rick Stewart
Rick used a word that matters: DNA. Not specs. Not square footage. DNA. The character of a space and the people in it. That’s what we design for. Everything else follows.
These are the scientists behind the art. They argue about which system they’d cut. They geek out over reverb times and lighting angles. They build group texts with clients. And they know where to eat amazing steak. Every single one of them shows up with the same goal: help you communicate better.
That’s CSD. That’s who we are.
Check out our socials this month to hear more from our team! If you’re ready to see what intentional design can do for your space, or enjoy a nice steak with Dave, click here to connect with us.
- Team CSD