Possibly moving to Portland

[Signalflow]

Oregon that is... I'm in love with the city really. I've even convinced my girlfriend that this is the place to be. The only thing that has me worried is my job. I've got a pretty sweet in-house engineering job here and I'm just curious how the audio "scene" is in Portland. Would freelancing be the way to go? The idea of moving to a new city and having to start over in terms of networking and making connections is mind boggling.

[sonicmook56]

I went to Portland last year with a bunch of other people to zoobomb (riding kiddie bikes down a huge mountan) and it was great.

I want to move there too, but have the same problem as you. There are studios and stuff out there but I think a gig would be hard to land.

[pointillist]

I just moved here (from Rhode Island) in July of 07. It's rad. I can't imagine living anywhere else. People are super nice.

[Tragabigzanda]

Live sound is the quickest route to making some $$ in Portland; the market of bands/engineers is pretty saturated, and while you can certainly find work there as an engineer, initially you'll be just another guy with some mics, competing against all sorts of studios operating at different levels (Jackpot!, DIG, Type Foundry, Artistery, etc). Hook up with some bands while working some live shows, then cut 'em a deal on your engineer rate. It's a pretty close-knit community, and you'll do find, once you penetrate it.

But it might take a while.

Good luck...

[bplr]

i really f'ing badly want to move to portland. seattle is wearing on me after 8 years. every time i go to portland i have the feeling like i should have been there years ago. people are sooo much nicer, genuiner and intelligenter. AND they have a gondola. hell yes. oh yeah, and great strip clubs too.

as for engineer work, i'm no expert on portland economy, but i have to guess that, given how it seems that nobody works, most people are musicians of some sort, and everyone drinks, there can't be a ton of surplus to pay for recording. but you could probably make a decent supplemental wage stripping or selling weed?

[Tragabigzanda]

I gotta tell ya, I lived in Portland for about four years, and I've got pretty mixed feelings on it...

The public transit is the best I've ever seen.
Cost of living is dirt cheap; one can have a real high quality of life for very little money.
Local and or/sustainably-grown foods are EVERYWHERE, and are a fraction of what they cost here in Boston.
And public/low-income health care is fantastic.

The people, I'm not that big on...
It feels, to me, like a city of children (only many of them are 40+).
I would say that many of the people there are NOT genuine, and are actually pretty phony. My experience as an opinionated, no-bullshit Bostonian was that people there are pretty thin-skinned, and would often call me an "asshole" or "judgmental" for getting, uh, "lovingly pushy" in both my personal relationships, and everyday life (traffic squabbles, bank errors, etc).

As for the music/creativity there, yep, there's a lot of great stuff going on. But Portland also suffers from what I call "Ooh, I made something!" syndrome, which is to say that people there are so blindly supportive of creativity, that there's a lot of crap that gets hung up on walls or reviewed in the papers.

I'm happy I lived there for four years; and I'm happy I moved on.
That being said, if I had children right now, I would definitely go back to Portland, 'coz I could raise them in a good environment for very little money.

[Alex Netick]

Yeah, I know what you mean. I spent alot of time up there a few years ago, and was all ready to move, but I finally passed on it. Seemed like a cool place for snorting crank and going to strip clubs, but it looked like the job market was pretty lousy, and alot of the people weren't too hip once you got over the thrill of going to a few restaurants and bars. My uncle lives in Oregon, and he can't understand why everyone thinks Portland's so great.

I gotta tell ya, I lived in Portland for about four years, and I've got pretty mixed feelings on it...

The public transit is the best I've ever seen.
Cost of living is dirt cheap; one can have a real high quality of life for very little money.
Local and or/sustainably-grown foods are EVERYWHERE, and are a fraction of what they cost here in Boston.
And public/low-income health care is fantastic.

The people, I'm not that big on...
It feels, to me, like a city of children (only many of them are 40+).
I would say that many of the people there are NOT genuine, and are actually pretty phony. My experience as an opinionated, no-bullshit Bostonian was that people there are pretty thin-skinned, and would often call me an "asshole" or "judgmental" for getting, uh, "lovingly pushy" in both my personal relationships, and everyday life (traffic squabbles, bank errors, etc).

As for the music/creativity there, yep, there's a lot of great stuff going on. But Portland also suffers from what I call "Ooh, I made something!" syndrome, which is to say that people there are so blindly supportive of creativity, that there's a lot of crap that gets hung up on walls or reviewed in the papers.

I'm happy I lived there for four years; and I'm happy I moved on.
That being said, if I had children right now, I would definitely go back to Portland, 'coz I could raise them in a good environment for very little money.

[kayagum]

Oregon that is... I'm in love with the city really. I've even convinced my girlfriend that this is the place to be. The only thing that has me worried is my job. I've got a pretty sweet in-house engineering job here and I'm just curious how the audio "scene" is in Portland. Would freelancing be the way to go? The idea of moving to a new city and having to start over in terms of networking and making connections is mind boggling.

You're the 2nd person recently that's wanted to move from MN to OR. I can't speak about OR, but why are you trying to bail out of MN?

[blakeq]

It seem like there are a ton of Minnesota folks who move to Portland...trading the snow for rain I suppose..

[Signalflow]

You're the 2nd person recently that's wanted to move from MN to OR. I can't speak about OR, but why are you trying to bail out of MN?

I've lived in the midwest for too damn long. The winters are really getting to me. I think Portland's slightly milder climate could do me some good. The cheap cost of living is pretty damn luring as well. I just really need a change. Something drastic. MN has been good to me, but I'm just burned out. I think I'm at a point in my life where it's now or never.

[Alex Netick]

I've never heard of anyone moving to Portland because of the weather. And if you want music, try Austin, Texas, or Boston, or New York. Most of the music I saw up in Portland was a bunch of old white guys trying to play blues, and a bunch of meathead 3 chord rock bands. Not saying it's the worst place I've been, but I can think of a million places I'd rather live.

[Esmo]

im thinking of moving out of here after being born here and living portlnad/eugene for 23 years. Too cold and its kind of sleepy and quiet for most of the cold months. Lot of bands, but the good ones seem to be ones you hear the most hype about. Im thinking austin or nyc. Anybody have thoughts on those two for a young musician/environmental scientest?