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Some kids have dreams of becoming firefighters, astronauts. Devin Kirkpatrick knew he wanted to be a recording engineer. “I was doing book reports in English class in 10th grade on technical [recording] stuff that no one else was interested in,” he explains. When asked if he was the A/V guy in high school, he admitted, “Yeah, pretty much. I was the dude with the elaborate set up in his house and his car.”

Skirting the inevitable burnout from his high profile gig at Sony in New York, that dude opened Sockit Studio, a combination clubhouse/recording facility, on Mammoth Drive. His reputation at Sony helped bring in some big names, including Newlyweds star Nick Lachey. “The whole time they were here, we had MTV filming it for a new show for Nick, about how he made an album.”

Sockit’s bread and butter is the burgeoning Southern hip hop scene, mixing half of the first album from Trill Entertainment’s Webbie and Lil’ Boosie, which led to their signing with Universal, as well as working with Master P’s Kane and Abel, Skullduggery, Cash Money’s BG, Nelly’s protégé Murphy Lee and Lil’ Wayne. Other clients range from local blues star Kenny Acosta and rock groups like Horseshoes and Handgrenades.