03/22/2026
Heartbroken to say goodbye Chris Athens. Rest well, brother. 💔
A lot of you know Chris for his insane mastering work on some of the biggest tracks ever: Drake, Childish Gambino, Ozzy... barely scratch the surface. I just looked it up... over 288 billion streams and 833 platinum records. You’ve probably heard something he put his hands on and didn’t realize it. To this day I’ll hear something, and when I find out it was him I say to myself “of course it was!
Chris was the first real friend I made when I moved to Austin 10 years ago. He lived about 15 minutes away. We knew each other through mutual friends and music people but hadn’t met yet. Our first hang was at Mazama Coffee in Dripping Springs. 2 hours of laughing, telling stories. We hit it off right away. I was new here, unsure about everything, my new studio wasn’t even finished being built. After knowing me for like an hour, he looks at me and says, ‘Kevin, you are awesome and you will kill it here in Austin.’ That’s just how he was to me… no ego, just pure love and encouragement. Coming from a legend in audio, it meant (and still means) a lot.
He had endless stories. One that sticks with me if from the very first time we had coffee. He tells me about mastering something for Stevie Wonder, then getting the call: ‘Chris... Mr. Wonder is on the line for you.’ He was like, ‘Um, ok... how do you even talk to Stevie Wonder about mastering?’ Nervous, excited, wanting to get it right. But story wasn’t just namedropping to me. Chris was so human about it, saying how bizarre, cool, and kinda awkward it felt.
We just talked on the phone recently and a ‘5-minute call’ turned into 2 hours. He was always open about loving his family, personal struggles, his worries since his dad passed too soon. Through our lunches over the last decade or random calls, he was always an open book to me and nothing but generous and kind. His advice helped me get sorted here in Austin more than he probably knew.
Deepest condolences to his closest friends, trusted colleagues, and especially his wife Judi and their kids. To my favorite mastering engineer and man I was happy to call friend, you live on here, always.
