After the Detroit Electronic Music Conference was put on hold last year due to a lack of venue, Rod Wallace and Ron “DJ Jungle” Johnson decided to bring the music production and DJ education event to Washtenaw County.

The heads of music nonprofits the Amplify Project and Spin Inc. will co-host the Detroit Electronic Music Conference (or “D Mack”) on March 2 at Washtenaw Community College’s Morris Lawrence Building.

“I first met DJ Jungle, who’s the executive director of Spin Inc., at a meeting with Grove [Studios], and they were looking for some opportunities to partner. Spin Inc. came and participated in our TAP IN event in 2023 and we talked about how we could collaborate,” said Wallace. about the free conference, which takes place March 2 and last occurred at the now-defunct Detroit Institute of Music Education in 2022.

“We had a conversation about his interest in bringing back the ‘D Mack,’ and I said, ‘Well, listen, we have a great partner in WCC … and [we can] tie it in with the arts management coursework that we’re teaching.’”

As part of D Mack’s preparations, the Amplify Project and Spin Inc. have enlisted WCC arts management students to help run the conference since their capstone class is built around event creation, collaboration, and execution.

They’re also partnering with several sponsors, including the Ann Arbor Area Community Foundation, WCC’s Entrepreneurship Center and Digital Media Arts Department, Renivere Recording, Fundamental Sound Co., Formula 734, Grove Studios, and more.

“That’s how the decision was made, and then we started to listen to what [DJ Jungle’s] vision was,” said Wallace, who’s also the program director for Eastern Michigan University’s TRIO Upward Bound. “All we wanted to do was just make his vision come to life and be able to continue the successful tradition of electronic music in this area.”

To honor that tradition, D Mack is featuring local DJs, artists, vendors, producers, and music enthusiasts interested in networking, community-building, and beatmaking.

Attendees will see beat sets from Adri Friebel, Knox Boogie, JayxJay, and Beretta Shells along with music production, technology, and equipment demonstrations from Carlo Libertini (Melodyne), DJ Goodboi (Native Instruments), DJ Head (Serato), and DJ Dez (Akai).

“Knox Boogie is a teenage beatmaker who is phenomenal. There are kids making beats every day and using programs like BandLab in school,” Wallace said.

“We want them to see that the rules don’t really change and that the platform may change or the platform may be a little bit different. We want them to take away that there are endless possibilities … to define themselves and define their styles musically.”

In addition, D Mack has created a workroom for producers to create beats and music on-site. It’s all part of the event’s goal to foster more collaboration among creatives in southeast Michigan.

“Our target is to gather information about what the community’s needs are, so we’ll have boards up where people can write their thoughts and ideas. We want to collect their ideas to support this group because we believe that music producers are the lifeline of this entire business,” Wallace said.

“This magic that’s happening from a production and engineering standpoint and this vast knowledge of technology is something that needs to be cultivated for several different reasons. Not only because of the industry, but because the skills transfer to other career spaces.”

In a way, different career spaces are being represented by a panel of speakers working in academia, artist consulting and management, nonprofits, music production, and media.

Speakers Alvin Hill (Oakland University), Deidre “D.S.SENSE” Smith (University of Michigan), Brandon Scarber (ASIR Consulting and Varsity Music Group), DJ Jungle (Spin Inc.), Nick Speed (The Speed Group), and Uncle P (Detroitrap.com and Michigan Beat Battle League) will discuss the future of music production to close out D Mack.

“We’ll talk about the importance of collaboration, [different] ways to get your music heard, and how artists make decisions about production,” Wallace said.

“We’ll talk about the impact of artificial intelligence on music-making, how to use social media, and how streaming is impacting how people engage with music. We’ll also have a Q&A where participants can ask questions.”

As for D Mack’s future, the Amplify Project and Spin Inc. plan to strengthen the event’s spirit of collaboration in southeast Michigan and expand it to become a statewide conference.

“I would love to see artists that are coming out of Spin Inc.’s facility getting the opportunity to do some performances and things out this way. We would love to curate some things for artists in the direction of Detroit a little bit better and connect Ann Arbor and Detroit really firmly,” Wallace said.

“There are opportunities to talk about what’s happening educationally … I can see Spin Inc. having a DJ class that works with [EMU’s] Bright Futures programs here in Ypsilanti. We can provide teachers who may be able to go out and offer that support to young people in Detroit as well.”

Lori Stratton is a library technician, writer for Pulp, and writer and editor of strattonsetlist.com.

The Detroit Electronic Music Conference runs March 2 from 10 am-5 pm at Washtenaw Community College’s Morris Lawrence Building. The event is free. To register, visit eventbrite.com.