L.A., Columbus, Pittsburgh, or Philadelphia? (Ada: college, living, low cost)

[Ja Shwicka]

I have a certificate in Recording Engineering and Music Production, and I play music and would love to be in a band wherever I decide to move. Two friends of mine are moving to L.A. in a month, and they want me to go with them to try to get paid to play music (not necessarily to make it big, but to make some money.) They're moving to midtown L.A. somewhere in between South Redondo Blvd and La Brea Ave. If I don't go with them I'm thinking about Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, or Columbus, OH (because I currently live within a couple hours of Columbus).

I won't have a car in L.A., Philadelphia, or Pittsburgh, but I would in Columbus. I'm going to have between $1700-$2000 when I arrive wherever I go. It would be great if I could get an internship in a recording studio. I was thinking about Vancouver, British Columbia too, but I don't know if I really want to deal with immigration and everything because I am planning to move again in fall of 2009.

Any advice, pros, cons, or anything at all would be greatly appreciated. If more info is needed to come up with good advice, I can try to provide it.

Thanks.

[adambomb]

Ja,
My name is Adam Bowen, I just came across this thread accidentally. You sound like you really want to pursue production. Is that right? Where is your certificate from? How old are you? Are you in Columbus now? What is your experience?
I probably won't check back to this forum, but if you are serious about engineering and production then I like to get in touch with you. Please email at [email]adambowen@gmail.com[/email] with a resume of your experience and a paragraph or two about your passion, what your goals are and anything else you'd like to add.

It doesn't have to be formal, I would just like to get an idea of whats going on with you.

Thanks and God Bless!
Adam

[Dorian]

I posted this on your thread in the Philly forum, but I'll post it again here.


I am from Pittsburgh, am familiar with Columbus, and been getting a lot of info on Philly from my recent research. I also think Philly is the best choice. Philly is easy to live in without a car, it has a good music scene and a lot of culture, and it is very close to NYC which opens up even more options. Columbus is a nice middle class city with cheap housing options and low cost of living, but doesn't have a huge music scene despite being a big college town. Columbus also lacks the culture that most people desire in a city. I don't agree with the comment made that "Pittsburgh is a college town", the only place in Pittsburgh that you really run into students is Oakland other than that it is more of a family city. The good about Pittsburgh is that the cost of living is if not the lowest one of the lowest for a major city in the country. It also has decent public transportation. If you live in city limits you will probably will have bus service that runs good into the night. Pittsburgh has a lot more culture than Columbus and the music scene is a couple steps better also, but still is nowhere in the same ball park as Philly or LA. LA is good for music opportunities, but is the most expensive of them all. LA will be extremely hard to survive in without a car. It is too sprawled out and public transportation leaves much to be desired for a city of its size. The amount of money you will have when you move will not go far in LA. Like some other people said you might want to add NYC to your list, but like LA your savings will not get you that far, but it has way better transportation than LA and arguably a better music scene. But like I said earlier Philly is really close to NYC and it would be just an easy bus or train ride away.