Sockit Studios is located in a quiet industrial/business park near the Mall at Cortana. It’s safe to say it’s the only business in the area where the owner has a platinum album award from the Backstreet Boys on display next to thank-you note from Lauryn Hill.
Devon Kirkpatrick opened the studio in November 2000 after spending three years working as a recording engineer in New York. During part of that time, Kirkpatrick worked at the massive Sony Music Studios, handling everything from making pop and rap records to a Tony Bennett performance on PBS.
Kirkpatrick, who graduated from Lee High School in 1989, says he wanted to return to his hometown with his wife and two daughters and get away from the “rat race” in New York, where he logged 115-hour work weeks and once spent 34 consecutive hours on a recording session. “I had a reputation as someone who could work with anybody, no matter how difficult,” he says.
He ended up in New York after graduating at the top of his class from Full Sail, one of the top recording schools in the country. Before that, Kirkpatrick worked as a stage manager on a cruise ship, making sure the sound was right for the onboard performances. “That was a real learning experience, because it sailed all over the world,” he says. “I got to see South America, Vietnam, places I would have never seen.”
After all those experiences, some people told Kirkpatrick he was crazy to try to open a high-quality professional studio in Baton Rouge. He says it was the right move. “It’s what I wanted to do since I was 15,” he says. By owning a studio, Kirkpatrick could also set down ground rules to spend more time with his family, like leaving the studio at 11 p.m.
During more than seven years of operation, artists such as Nick Lachey and Deborah Cox have recorded at Sockit. Tracks on the recent album by New Orleans rapper C-Murder were mixed at the studio.
Kirkpatrick is getting ready to expand the studio, converting a room in the front to a second spot for recording. He’s also looking at starting a record label and publishing company to become more involved in the industry.
Along with providing a high quality of work, the secret of Sockit’s success is customer service, Kirkpatrick says. “We can get as involved in things as our clients need to be,” he says. “If they need us to mix something they already recorded, we can do that. If they need us to record something, we can do that.”
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