Joel Nielsen is a Canadian composer. Among other less known works, Nielsen has written the soundtrack for a high profile game modification (mod) for Valve's 2004 PC game epic Half-Life 2, Black Mesa, which recreates the story line of the original 1998 Half-Life in the newer game's more complex, detailed and advanced engine. The mod features models and textures built from the ground up and new original music and themes by Nielsen. Nielsen was born and raised in central Alberta, Canada. He began piano lessons at age four, and graduated from the Royal Conservatory of Music, at age thirteen. After a few years of high school rock bands, he began composing and producing his own music. <a href="https://www.last.fm/music/Joel+Nielsen">Read more on Last.fm</a>. User-contributed text is available under the Creative Commons By-SA License; additional terms may apply.