Issue 14 - October 2011

Welcome to the start of another college year.

Our full-time and part-time courses in Audio, Gaming and Film are back in full swing. It's been an amazing summer - we've moved premises, have been keeping ourselves busy with renovations, and are looking forward to more exciting creative collaboration. Plus, with all these positive changes, Pulse News has undergone a complete revamp too. We hope you like it!

This month, our tutors have been out and about meeting and greeting some amazing future talent from around the country at 'Career Zoo', 'Which Course' and 'Higher Options'.

Also in a first for the college in September, Culture Night saw Windmill open its doors to the general public for the first time after more than 40 years - and a great night was had by all.

In this issue, we focus on the Video Game industry - a rapidly growing recruitment sector - and will be offering some hints and tips from our guest lecturer Paddy Murphy and student success Emma Kenny.

Plus, our exciting new Avid Media Composer 5-day course starts on the 5th of December - more details on our website

As always, if there are any areas you'd like us to cover, or if you'd like more information on anything, or if you'd like us to include something in a future issue, feel free to contact us.


Yours truly,

Cliodhna Pierce

Pulse Administrator
cliodhna@pulsecollege.eu

Pulse News:

Over 300 Visitors to Windmill Lane Recording Studios on Culture Night

This year, music lovers from all over Dublin had the unique opportunity to get a behind-the-scenes look into Windmill Lane Recording Studios and its 40 years of music history when it opened to the Public for first time as part of Culture Night on 23 September.

More than 300 eager visitors experienced live music, interactive demonstrations on mixing in Studio 2 and the Surround Sound Studio, learnt about creating video games and films, and had demos of the studio's state-of-the-art equipment.

Highlights of the evening included a talk from Stuart Clark of HotPress, plus staff photographers, who gave an insight in to the world of rock and roll; and a great live performance from Moya Brennan who sang some of her most moving songs to a packed audience in Studio 1.

Pulse News:

Festival Sounds with Pulse College Students

This summer saw the return of the festival season and great opportunities for Pulse College's top graduates to demonstrate their live sound skills at some of Ireland's best festivals.

Grace Canavan worked the desk for Dublin's explosive rock act The Cold 100 at both the Life festival and top independent festival Knockanstockan 2011. She was joined by Gary Connolly and George Forsyth for Electric Picnic where the trio worked front of house at the Earthship stage in the Body & Soul arena, working with new acts such as The Amazing Few, St. John The Gambler, Electric Penguins and The Jimmy Slip Rig Jig to name but a few.

With short changeover times, varied lineups from act to act and Windmill Lane engineer Niall ("The Knowledge") McMonagle looking on, the lads had to be at their best. Long hours and extreme weather were overcome to ensure the crowds had a great time and the weekend went off without a hitch. Grace, Gary and George will no doubt be looking forward to next year's festival season, when they will hope to be working some more of the top festivals around Ireland, The UK and Europe.

Guest Lecturer Feature:

Paddy Murphy, Open Emotion Studios

Pulse's lecturers and tutors include a number of high profile industry experts with interesting and varied careers. In this section of our newsletter we delve into their stories to learn about their experiences and, if we're lucky, uncover some of the secrets of their success.

Paddy Murphy is the lead sound director and CEO of Open Emotion Studios Ltd. He has created music for over 11 released games including Mad Blocker Alpha, Ninjamurai and Revoltin' Youth and is currently writing the scores for another six projects. He has an extensive knowledge of Game Design and uses this encyclopedic knowledge of game design for making executive game-play and artistic design related decisions.

Before taking on the huge challenge of setting up the hugely successful Open Emotion Studios he managed a Gamestop store in Limerick for over two years, while studying video production and manipulation in Limerick Senior College.. and by night he was in a band called Verfield for nearly five years. We are delighted he found the time to give us a first hand look into the Videogame industry in Ireland.

Student Success Stories:

Emma Kenny

Many of Pulse's Graduates go on to work with some of the top artists and multimedia companies in the world. In this section of our newsletter, we catch up with past students to find out what life is like post-Pulse.

With a passion for art ever since she picked up a crayon for the first time, Emma was destined to pursue a career in creative media. However, having chosen a post-leaving cert course in Legal and Admin she put her creative ambitions on hold. After a stint working as a personal assistant, she decided embark on an Alaskan adventure, volunteering for three months with people with intellectual disabilities.

On her return to Ireland she worked with Cheeverstown House and began to apply her passion for art and design helping them to create a mural for the wall in their day centre to promote integration into their community. At the age of 26 she went in pursuit of the perfect course, which eventually lead her to Pulse College and specifically the Game Development course. Straight after leaving Pulse, Emma landed her ideal job in an up-and-coming company called Seoige Technology. We are delighted to chat to her about all things game-related and her passion for, as she puts it, "Big Girl Drawing"

Industry News:

Forfás has published a major new report on the games sector entitled, The Games Sector in Ireland: An Action Plan for Growth which highlights the potential for Ireland in the video and electronic games sector and identifies issues fundamental to its future success and competitiveness.