Montreal Live Users Advice Please?

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tigali
Posts: 452
Joined: Thu Dec 18, 2008 6:49 pm
Location: Ireland

Montreal Live Users Advice Please?

Post by tigali » Wed Feb 15, 2012 10:48 am

My wife and I are thinking of relocating to Montreal. We are Irish, I work as the manager of a community development organisation while also Mastering, performing and teaching Ableton Live as more part time work. My wife runs her own business. We have a three year old child too.

We have been thinking of leaving Ireland for a while and my wife suggested Montreal (she speaks french and I would be eager to learn it). I suppose I just wanted to ask for any thoughts on Montreal as a place to live. Also, as a performing musician, are there many opportunities to play out live?

We would be moving at some point over the next 6 to 12 months, probably.

Any of you have any experiences you'd like to share?

easemeister
Posts: 17
Joined: Fri Jan 08, 2010 3:41 pm

Re: Montreal Live Users Advice Please?

Post by easemeister » Wed Feb 15, 2012 12:57 pm

Montreal is a real good place to live, appartment are not so expensive, so many place you can play all kind of music...
Watch out the winter !!!

tigali
Posts: 452
Joined: Thu Dec 18, 2008 6:49 pm
Location: Ireland

Re: Montreal Live Users Advice Please?

Post by tigali » Wed Feb 15, 2012 6:57 pm

According to wikipedia it snows for 4 months of the year. That's ridiculous. I'm used to rain, but snow?!?! Does it cost a fortune to heat your house/apartment in those conditions?

easemeister
Posts: 17
Joined: Fri Jan 08, 2010 3:41 pm

Re: Montreal Live Users Advice Please?

Post by easemeister » Wed Feb 15, 2012 8:18 pm

it doesn't cost a fortune to heat, all is electric and electricity is not so expensive...

MacGuffin
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Re: Montreal Live Users Advice Please?

Post by MacGuffin » Wed Feb 22, 2012 1:44 pm

Rent is relatively cheap (compared to other Canadian cities) but salaries can be low too, depending in what business you work.

You won't need to be fully bilingual for work like mastering and teaching ableton live, but most "managing" work you can expect to be required to be fluent in french. This is the biggest obstacle to most people moving in from english-speaking places.

Heating is a big expense, but electricity prices are much lower than in Europe. There's also some places that heating is included in the rent price.

Just to be clear: It can be cold as fuck! Sometimes with the humidity and wind it feels like the cold is stinging your face.
But at the same time, it's a great party city, life is good there, there's always something fun to do and the worst of the cold doesn't last very long. Plus, it's a good excuse to stay inside and make music ;)
Also, the winter is great for outdoor activities such as snowshoeing, skiing, skating in the park, etc.

In the summer there are non-stop festivals in the city from may to september (Mutek, Just For Laughs, Jazz Fest, Francofolies, Nuits d'afrique, Fantasia, etc...) The restaurant scene is pretty good also.

The music scene is very good, if you are good at talking to people and meeting promoters there's a ton of small venues for independent artists. The language barrier is not a problem in the case of music, there are bands from all over Canada and sometimes the U.S. that move to Montreal because rent is cheap and they don't need to learn french.

That's about it, I think... :)
Montreal sometimes feels like a village, the greater montreal area is something like 3 million people, but at the same time compared to other cities of the same size it's very laid back. Probably because so many people there smoke weed.

tigali
Posts: 452
Joined: Thu Dec 18, 2008 6:49 pm
Location: Ireland

Re: Montreal Live Users Advice Please?

Post by tigali » Sun Feb 26, 2012 7:22 pm

Wow, it sounds fantastic. Now I just have to convince my wife. She is, understandably, concerned about the how tough it might be to find work and the cold. Probably less so the cold. Thanks for the detailed reply. Appreciate it.

Muzik 4 Machines
Posts: 769
Joined: Thu Oct 22, 2009 9:35 am

Re: Montreal Live Users Advice Please?

Post by Muzik 4 Machines » Sun Feb 26, 2012 11:16 pm

tigali wrote:According to wikipedia it snows for 4 months of the year. That's ridiculous. I'm used to rain, but snow?!?! Does it cost a fortune to heat your house/apartment in those conditions?
4 months, wikipedia is a liar, it can be 6 months lol

electricity in quebec is pretty cheap as we produce wayyyyy more than we need

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