At the tender age of 17, Neil played in various rock bands touring NZ and Australia throughout early 1980’s. Firstly in “Tarbet”, which became “Air Strike”, followed by "Kam Sha". Kam Sha toured in Australia and re-formed with combined NZ/Australian members. They released three Top-20 charting singles in the mid-1980s. Whilst in Sydney, Neil developed a keen interest in ‘computers-in-music’ and by the late 80’s had built up a small midi studio.

He joined a small television scoring company in 1989 and became co-composer for various television productions, ranging from documentary to drama series.

In 1991, Neil formed his own company (Musication) which would produce and arrange musical score for various television network series, radio and television commercials, feature films, corporate videos and documentaries. In addition, Neil was commissioned by EMI/Castle Music to produce high quality production music for international distribution. Since these humble beginnings, Neil has created several commercial suites and fitted them out with state of the art technology and equipment. The business now trades as Neil Sutherland Music.

Neil is a pillar of the Australian Screen Music scene having composed for many major formats including MythBusters, Border Security, RBT and countless others, making him APRA's Most Performed Composer Overseas from 2008-2020 consecutively.