Darryl has an historic legacy as a performer, composer, producer, engineer and mixer.
In 1982, at the age of 18, Darryl left his home town of Kelowna, British Columbia to play drums for 54/40 in Vancouver. He co-composed and performed on several Canadian hits while with the band, one of which (I Go Blind) became a top ten hit in the US in 1997.
Upon leaving 54/40 in 1985, Darryl pursued a career in music production and engineering, culminating in albums that achieved gold and platinum status in the US and Canada (Sarah McLachlan, 54/40, Blue Rodeo), one of which won a Juno award.
In the 1990’s, Darryl started Miller Block Studio on Hastings Street in downtown east-side Vancouver with the band Copyright and Jim Carrico. During that decade a plethora of indie rock, electronic, dub, punk and alt country albums were made with Darryl at the console. Artists that entered the walls of Miller Block during this time included Randy Bachmann, Michael Karoli and Damo Suzuki of Can, Jello Biafra, Herald Nix, Chris Houston, Kevin Kane etc. Perhaps most notable was his work co-producing all of Neko Case’s albums and working with the earliest incarnation of the New Pornographers.
In the late ’90’s Darryl toured with Copyright on keyboards as well as the US and Europe making experimental improvised electronic music with Mark Spybey’s Dead Voices on Air project. In 2001, Darryl moved to Ontario where he founded Operation Northwoods Recording.
During the early 2000’s, Darryl designed the curriculum and became head instructor at The Audio Recording Academy in Toronto.
In 2009, Neko Case’s Middle Cyclone, which Darryl did engineering on, mixed and co-produced, debuted at number 3 on Billboard in the US, was awarded “Best Album of the Year” on Amazon.com, and received two Grammy nominations. In addition, in 2009, Darryl engineered the Blue Rodeo double album, The Things We Left Behind, which went platinum in early 2010.
These two albums earned Darryl a 2010 Juno nomination for Engineer of the Year.
In 2013, Darryl co-produced and co-mixed Neko Case’s The Worse Things Get, the Harder I Fight, the Harder I Fight, the More I Love You, which debuted at number 12 on Billboard and received a Grammy nomination for Best Alternative Music Album 2014.
Darryl continued to produce and engineer recordings at Operation Northwoods in Mono, Ontario for scores of artists including Blue Rodeo, By Divine Right, Greg Keelor, Elliot Brood, Scott Helman, Jill Barber, Lily Frost, The Weather Station, Language Arts, Barzin, Justin Rutledge, Two hours Traffic, The Grapes of Wrath, Lindi Ortega etc.
In 2019, Darryl was inducted into the Canadian Songwriters Hall of Fame for his work co-composing 54/40’s song I Go Blind.
That same year, Darryl moved to Kelowna, British Columbia, just before Covid hit. This resulted in a boxed up studio and reduced work.
In October 2024, Darryl decided to pour his passion into a new 7.1.4 Immersive Dolby Atmos facility in a beautiful location just a short walk to the beach. With the studio being completed in March 2025, Primalux Studio and Primalux Institute of Music and Technology is born!
Please visit www.darrylneudorf.com for more info.
