DETROIT ? More than 100,000 people attended this year?s Movement Electronic Music Festival where they enjoyed the beat that played through the Memorial Day Weekend. Behind the music was an incredible amount of technology and some inspiring women who made the music come alive.

The festival featured a 2,500 square foot technology showcase that demonstrated the latest in electronic music production equipment as well as live demos. The ?Women in EDM? panel featured several female DJ?s who shared their experiences in a male dominated field. Both the technology and insight from the women elevated the outcomes of the event to go beyond just a long weekend of music.

Electronic music can be traced to the funk and soul of the 1960?s when synthesizers set the groove. This music has evolved like most technology over the next few decades into an electronic art form. Detroit has played a major role in the development of house music from Chicago roots. Kevin Saunderson who serves as one of the ?godfathers? of Detroit house was still in the mix with a special session on Monday at the festival. The Movement technology area allowed the festival attendees to understand some of the technology and even allowed some of them to take home equipment to start producing their own sounds.

On Saturday morning before the music started, several female DJ?s hosted a panel discussion on how women in EDM and have found their voice in a male dominated line up. Topics ranged from confidence, fostering positive energy and mentorship, but it all came back to a simple, resonating concept: No matter what their musical background, each panelist agreed ? ?We are artists first,? said DJ Dani Deahl who served as moderator, ?and we just happen to be women.?

Local Detroit artist DJ Minx, with Women on Wax records, which represents female leaders in the music industry, started with a DJ collective that evolved into a record label and then a production company. She said it starts with the confidence that you can make it, if you want it bad enough.

Women in EDM and women in technology have more in common than one would think. There are many common themes like the rate of technology change in this industry. Also, the challenges of women DJ?s in a primarily male dominated industry are incredibly similar to the themes captured in many Women in Technology events.

These women just want to be seen for their talent and artistic integrity and not always held to gender standards. The takeaways from the Women in EDM session include shared experiences and insight, but also the theme of women coming together in workshops like this and in the music scene to build a strong network to support each other.

Many technologies were featured at the festival. Sennheiser, renowned German manufacturer of industry-leading DJ and consumer headphones, showcased its latest designs including the newest HD8 DJ headphones, which are designed to be versatile enough for DJ?s playing at events like this festival.

QuNexus displayed the latest programmable controller and keyboard. Company representatives said that Dj?s are using the technology to innovate live music. For example, DJ KiNK has been known to actually hand out a controller to the crowd and source sounds from the people. The flexibility of QuNexus and other controllers really make the possibilities endless for DJ?s to program their next set and mix the hottest tracks seamlessly.

The live DJ demonstrations of the Xone DB2 and briefing of the DB4 mixers showed the power of the mixing technology today. These mixers in combination with the Reloop tables like the Reloop RP800, created a sound that leverages traditional vinyl or digital vinyl and is the first ?official Serato accessory.? Synthark archives sounds from legacy synthesizers and saves them digitally to preserve the history of music. There was a demo area to play with this rich library of legacy samples to enrich music created today. There is a museum in the works to showcase the technology collected to create this Synth archive.

The area offered a good look at the technologies used to create and mix the tracks playing on the five stages at the festival. Several of the technology partners in the area also made generous donations of gear and instruction to help support the music program at Youthville Detroit.

The Movement Festival team went above and beyond this year to not only foster a love for technology, but also to give women the opportunity to make electronic music come alive for audiences everywhere.

Associate Editor Nicole Johnson leads MITechNews.Com?s efforts to foster STEM education, as well as provides coverage for her fellow women in computing. If you have a story idea for Nicole, email [email protected] Follow Nicole on Twitter: @tech_nicole