Tan was born in Malaysia. He attended Full Sail University in Florida in the U.S., where he attained a degree in Recording Arts in 1990. Afterwards he moved to Atlanta, Georgia, where he embarked on a career as a recording engineer.[4]
As of 2009, sales of albums and singles sold in the US with Tan listed in the credits as a mixer, engineer, remixer or producer totaled over 220 million.[7]
Modern Mixing has called him "one of the most successful mixing engineers of all time", noting he worked on "26 singles that have reached number one on Billboard’s Hot 100 chart".[8]
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Paul Tingen (February 2007). "Secrets Of The Mix Engineers: Phil Tan". Sound on Sound. Archived from the original on 2017-01-10. He may look almost unbecomingly young, but 37-year old Phil Tan is one of the most experienced and successful mixers in the American music scene.
^N. Rama Lohan (2007-08-27). "Mixing it to the top". The Star. Archived from the original on 2014-06-01. Retrieved 2017-03-07. Although – almost inexplicably – his name rings no bells with Malaysians in the music industry, the La Salle Klang-schooled Tan has two little gold-plated gramophones (the Grammy Awards, duh!) for his mixing duties on Mariah Carey's The Emancipation of Mimi (Best Contemporary R&B Album, 2006) and Ludacris' Release Therapy (Best Rap Album, 2007).
^"Psychology of a mix engineer: An interview with Phil Tan". Modern Mixing. 2015-02-18. Retrieved 2017-03-07. As one of the most successful mixing engineers of all time, Phil Tan has mixed and/or recorded 26 singles that have reached number one on Billboard's Hot 100 chart. The amount of sales for albums and singles, Phil is credited on, have totaled in excess 250 million.