A musician and lifelong recording enthusiast, Chris Athens started out selling instruments while honing his skills at night as a freelance recording engineer.

In 1992 Chris landed a job as the tape librarian for Sony Music Studios. After months of pestering the studio manager to give him a mastering job, he finally prevailed and was promoted to production assistant on the night shift. Working under Vlado Meller and Mark Wilder, Chris carved out a niche doing such streetwise albums as Mos Def & Kwei's "Black Star", and Pharoah Monch's acclaimed debut, "Internal Affairs", which featured the explosive single "Simon Says".

In 1999 Chris joined Sterling Sound and has since racked up an impressively diverse list of credits, including Coldplay, the Beastie Boys, Usher, Ciara, the Neptunes and Ben Folds.