Pulse Students to Receive Leonardo Grant

Pulse College are delighted to announce that they have succeeded in securing funding from Leonardo European Mobility Scheme 2010. This financial support will be used to give the lucky Irish second year students the opportunity for a fully funded work placement in some of the UK's most prestigious digital media companies.

Pulse Launches Exciting New Game Development Course

Game design is emerging as an exciting area providing new employment opportunities in Ireland. To cater for this demand Pulse is set to launch its innovative part time and full time Game Development Diploma.

What distinguishes this course from others is that it is designed to follow the production pipeline from initial concept to delivery. While others focus on one particular area either programming or the art side of gaming, Pulse aims to expose students to all areas of Game Development.

Award winning writer/producer commences New Screen Writing Course for Pulse College

Due to the phenomenal success of the film courses screenwriting module, Pulse are pleased to announce that a new Screen Writing Course has been developed with the leadership of award winning writer/producer Farah Abushwesha.

With Farah's guidance students will be provide with a supportive environment that will encourage natural writing talent to shine through. The Screen writers lab is a five day intensive course which has an interactive and proactive approach rather than focusing on theory. It is aimed at inspiring, nurturing and stimulating you to create your own ideas and develop skills as a screenwriter.

Irish games industry grows 400% in seven years

The Irish games industry has grown 400% in the past seven years making it one of the fastest growing recruitment sectors in Ireland today. There are now more than 1,400 people employed in games-development and related industries in Ireland as well as new opportunities opening in mobile and social gaming. As a result this figure is projected to grow.

The rise of smart phones where platforms like the iPhone, Android and Ovi spell opportunity; Ireland could find itself very well placed. A new survey conducted by Survey Monkey on the computer-games industry revealed that in Ireland a staggering 1,277 people are employed on a full-time permanent basis, with a further 170 contractors and 22 freelancer workers making the total number employed in the gaming sector 1400 people. This represents a growth of more than 400% since 2002.

Apple Creative Contest 2010 is Officially Open

Pulse College can announce that Apple have officially launched its pan European 2010 Creative Contest. Projects will be reviewed by a panel of creative experts including Paul Staveley-O'Duffy (music producer; Amy Winehouse 'Back to Black') and Ash Atalla (TV Producer; UK "The Office", "The IT Crowd").

In each category the best 15 entries will be shortlisted by the Apple expert panel and the top 3 winners will receive fantastic prizes, include amazing Apple hardware and software, an all expenses paid trip to London for the glamorous Awards Ceremony and your work will be available to download on iTunes giving you great publicity!

Congratulations to Meteor Award Winners The Script and The Coronas

Windmill Lane would like to congratulate deserving winners The Script, deserved winners of The Meteor award for Best Live Act. Danny, Mark and Glen took home the gong and no doubt celebrated in style.

To prove that they were worthy winners for best live act, the band went on stage to close the show with a blistering 5 song performance that whipped the crowd into a frenzy.

Ger McDonnell Guest Lecturer Profile

This month's guest lecture profile we look into career the of Ger McDonnell, music producer/mixer/engineer with credits including U2, Manic Street Preachers, Dido, Texas, Def Leppard, Kasabian to name a few. Dublin born and bred, at the age of eight, he began to study orchestral percussion at the College of Music. Having studied there for eight years, poised for a career in teaching, he decided to follow his long-harboured desire to be involved in the world of "making records". Having served his time working as an assistant/trainee recording engineer In various studios around Dublin he had a chance meeting with producer Mike Hedge. Ger went on to work extensively with Mike and various high profile artists such as U2. Working in many of the best recording studios in the UK Ireland and France Ger gained invaluable experience along the way.

Q1: You started your music career at the tender age of eight. Where did this love of music come from?

I would have to say that my love of music comes from my parents, really, you could argue that it's in the genes! Neither of them played an instrument, but are great singers. When growing up there was always music on in our house, be it on the radio or on the turntable. My Mum loves The Beatles and a lot of pop music, my Dad is a fan of Buddy Holly and Johnny Cash, so we had a bit of a mixed bag of tastes in there. I tried to get them into some classical music and Joy Division in my teens, but to no avail. Can't think why!

Pulse Past Pupils Sign to Planet Mu

Pulse Newsletter can exclusively announce that graduates John Kowalski and Rian Trench of Solar Bears have been signed to electronic music label Planet Mu. Having met in Pulse Recording College, they combined influences and musical ideas, as well as merging analogue with digital technologies which has been the key to their unique sound. The band draws from world cinema and seminal groups such as Broadcast and Primal Scream. Their debut album which was recorded at Strawberry Studios and Studio Antarctica is coming out this year. We managed to catch up with one half of Solar Bears John Kowalski, to offer congratulations and get an insight in this Pulse graduate success story and how the college impacted their journey.

Q1: Tell us about the Solar Bear story, you met at Pulse College. What got you together?

I had a track called "Trans Waterfall" which I felt would only work with someone who was able to play a wide variety of instruments I met Rian in Pulse and it was clear from the start that he was the ideal person when I got to see his work first hand. He had a deep understanding of music, songwriting and was able to play a wide variety of instruments. The track only took a day to complete. We posted the song online and contacted bands we respected from Mogwai to Remember Remember. We got very positive feedback and within a short space of time we had an album put together. From there we sent music out to few local stations which went down very well and we were played on Dublin City FM, RTE 2XM, Phantom and BBC ATL. We also traded our album with an artist named Bibio who is on Warp Records. Feedback was very positive and Connected Magazine did a feature which gave us good publicity.