Who We Are
We started FOURH4ND out of sheer love for music. Although we’re Cambridge PhD students working in completely different fields (Bennett spends his days imaging fluorescent proteins and Jess writes about seventeenth century prostitutes) we share an insatiable thirst for new music, and a profound belief in its ability to inspire and connect. DJing together as FOURH4ND has allowed us to collaborate creatively and bring a new standard of dance music to Cambridge.
The production of interesting music is no longer just the purview of professionals and record labels. Within the last five years, the music scene has exploded in vitality, innovation, and variety, and we want to help expose people to these incredible new sounds. We both have a keen sense for what people like to hear and we enjoy the challenge of playing sets that include familiar and brand new material and that ultimately gets people dancing.
Learn about FOURH4ND on our website or download free music from our facebook page.
What We're Doing
We have steadily been building a fan base in Cambridge by DJing at college formals, dance parties, and local clubs; however, to make the transition from amateurs to artists, we want to be able to record and play our own remixes, to develop our own sound, and to promote our work in a fresh and interesting way.
Over 18,000 students, old and new, descend on Cambridge during one week in October: Freshers’ Week. As colleges welcome their students to the academic side of Cambridge, we want to show them what a night out should be like. Nothing brings people together like music, so our goal is to play seven shows in seven nights. We have the network, we have the energy, we just need your help with the money.
We Need Your Help
The startup costs for DJs are high, and we’ve come up with some fun rewards for your support. If you can sponsor us we’d appreciate it, but if not, even sharing this page with your friends would help us a lot! (We'd never reject donated DJ equipment either!)
-Jess and Bennett
Our Wish List
DJ Equipment: Hardware
Traktor Controller, Kontrol S2 or S4: £300/£500 respectively
Kontrol, from Native Instruments will allow us to DJ like the pros. These controller decks go for £400 and £650 retail, but we typically find better deals on gumtree and eBay. These controllers also come with copies of the DJ software, Traktor (below).
Traktor Controller, Kontrol F1: £200
The Kontrol F1 add-on controller would allow us to remix tracks live. This way we can start making our own remixes to accompany the standard tracks.
DJ Equipment: Software
Ableton Suite: £265
Ableton Live is a standard software for music production and mixtape creation. We’re using the 30-day trial at the moment, but that won’t last long. Since we’re students, we’ll save over £200.
Traktor Pro 2.5: Included with Kontrol S2 or S4
Traktor Pro, from Native Instruments software package that helps to simplify many aspects of DJing. It will allow us to DJ with nothing more than a computer, but the software is packaged with the Kontrol S2, so it’d be silly to just get the software.
Promotion
Soundcloud Subscription: £80/year
Once we reach two hours of mixtapes, we’ll have to upgrade our Soundcloud account.
Professional Web Development: DIY + £10/url
We have a bit of web design experience, so we'll cut this cost by developing the FOURH4ND website ourself. We'll just have to buy the urls, which cost £10/year.
FOURH4ND Flash Drives: £140 for 50
Demo CDs and business cards are things of the past. We’re looking to promote FOURH4ND by handing out branded Flash Drives accompanied by demo mixtapes and electronic contact details.
Music
High-Quality Music: £2-3/track
As musicians, we want to support musicians. To access the high quality music that professional sound systems require, we want to buy high bit rate music files off Beatport or iTunes, which charges £1.50-£3 per song.
If we could have it all: £1,200+
As you can see, this is a hefty undertaking. We could really use your help.
