Matt Uelmen

Matt Uelmen
Matt Uelmen on Guitar in 2006.
Background information
Born	(1972-07-31) July 31, 1972 (age 44) South Bay, California
Genres	Video game music
Occupation(s)	Composer, sound designer
Instruments	Keyboard, guitar, flute and percussion
Years active	1994–present

Matt Uelmen (/ˈoʊlmᵻn/; born July 31, 1973) is an American video game music composer and sound designer. He is best known for his work in Blizzard Entertainment's Diablo series, which was recognized with the inaugural Excellence in Audio award by the IGDA in 2001. He also worked as a sound designer for the real-time strategy game StarCraft, and worked on World of Warcraft's expansion The Burning Crusade in 2007. Since 2009, Matt Uelmen has worked as a member of the Runic Games team, as composer and sound designer for the Torchlight games.

Growing up in the South Bay area of Greater Los Angeles, Uelmen began taking piano lessons at age six from his tutor, Lenee Bilski, who provided him with a strong theoretical foundation. At 13 years old, he moved with his family to San Jose, California, where he completed high school. During this time, Uelmen was self-taught, mostly influenced by jazz, classic rock, and classical music, especially Liszt and Debussy while he was in high school, and Miles Davis, Jimi Hendrix and Tom Waits later on. He later diversified his instruments to include the flute, guitar, keyboard and percussion.