DJ Baedine: Living Her Truth Through Trance

Like many, DJ Baedine first picked up DJing during the start of the Covid-19 pandemic in early 2020. However, she already had the equipment (which she bought herself as a birthday gift the year before) and motivation like no other. Transitioning to WFH made it possible for Baedine to finally give her DDJ-400 the love it deserved. 

Baedine has come a long way in such a short period of time. Since joining Twitch in 2020 and having not the slightest clue how to DJ, her accomplishments are impressive. She is currently racking up nearly 6k followers on Twitch, where she plays trance weekly for her viewers. She’s also regularly playing shows for live audiences, which says a lot about the energy she can bring to a room. 

Of course, when speaking with an artist who’s versed in both settings, we had to ask her to compare live crowds to viewers on Twitch. 

“When you have a live crowd in front of you, it’s definitely easier to tell what is setting the crowd off and what they’re really loving because you can see what’s happening,” says Baedine. “On Twitch, you just kind of have to play with what you like and hope that the crowd is receptive to it as well.”

She goes on, “When it’s live, you can see them, and you know how they’re reacting, but you can’t talk to them. And then on Twitch, you don’t see them, and you don’t know how they’re reacting, but you can talk to them.”

Clearly, both sides have their pros, and when we asked her which she preferred, she couldn’t choose one. “They’re both awesome,” she replied with a smile. 

Twitch also can foster social connections that might not as easily happen in real life. To some, that might sound a bit backward, but for many, Twitch offers a safe and inviting space for simple communication with fellow DJs and fans.

“I’ve been backstage at events, and I know a lot of the artists personally. But there are some artists that I really never knew, like Manuel Le Saux and The Thrillseekers. I never really knew them knew them,” says Baedine. She explains that through Twitch, she was able to connect with these artists and get to know them on a more personal level. 

It’s not just artists that Baedine has connected with through Twitch. “I got to know a lot of people in the scene that I had never met before,” she says. “I’ve also talked to a ton of people on Twitch that I had actually partied with at events. But obviously, we’re strangers on the dance floor because there are thousands of people at the shows.”

Now that live music is back in full force in the U.S., Baedine has been able to connect with people at shows as well as during Twitch meetups. It’s the best of both worlds. 

Baedine recalls one of her favorite streaming memories during a 24-hour celebration stream after hitting 5k followers on Twitch. “I think it was like the 20-hour mark that I made the decision to take a nap. I had my friend stream, and I was going take a half-hour nap…and I didn’t come back from said nap. My friend was like, ‘you didn’t come back out,” she laughs. “I had the chills. I think my body was giving out for drinking for 20 hours while standing.”

The following day, Baedine streamed for another 12 hours. One of her viewers said they noticed she was really close to hitting her donation goal for getting a new Macbook (keep in mind, at the time she was using a Macbook Pro from 2010). However, she told him that she wasn’t close at all; she was still $800 away. 

“He donated the $800, and he’s like, ‘I want to congratulate you. You’ve streamed for twenty-six hours between two days.’” It wasn’t just the dedication to her stream that inspired him to donate. He noted all of her work to better the community and her eagerness to participate in fundraising streams. “I was floored. I never would’ve imagined anything like that pre-Twitch.”

It takes an artist to create beautiful music, and Baedine is an artist in several facets. She’s skilled at drawing and painting and even has her own Etsy shop, MadeByBaedine, where she sells handmade crafts. Right now, she’s selling hand-painted hanging wall signs, and her “OnlyTrance” sign is undoubtedly a head-turner.

Speaking of trance, did we mention how much Baedine adores the genre? Viewers can catch Baedine weekly on Twitch playing trance as part of her “Trance Thursdays” stream series. And although trance has her heart, she also enjoys spinning techno and progressive. 

It goes beyond just mixing trance, though. Baedine is as much of a fan as anyone else. She regularly attends trance shows around Massachusetts, where she’s currently living, and often commutes to NYC to experience legendary trance DJs play in the city’s most coveted venues.  

And with her husband, Robert Nickson, being a celebrated trance artist, plenty of trance love is going around in her home. As a female in dance music, we were curious to hear Baedine’s take on what it’s like navigating this heavily male-dominated scene. 

“I think there’s a lot nowadays that really empowers women to do things like this,” she says. “And there are more and more places working towards promoting female DJs and producers. So, there’s definitely a lot more expansion in that sense, but because it is so male-dominated, it’s still pretty hard to break through because you still see shows, mostly booking male DJs, especially when it comes to the big names.”

She goes on, “Female opening acts? Yeah, big time–that’s huge. But for the mainstage, unless you’ve truly broken through the glass ceiling, it’s difficult.”

She notes that the same is true for the more niche community in the trance scene, as you don’t see big female trance names like Nifra and Maria Healy playing mainstages at Tomorrowland. “Even if that’s not a goal of theirs, it’s just frustrating because you know that the female talent is there.”

Baedine is certainly pushing boundaries as a woman in the trance space. After nearly two years of practicing her craft with mixing, she’s decided to take on the next challenge, producing. “I feel like a big part of moving up in the industry these days is that you really have got to be a producer. Just being a DJ sometimes doesn’t cut it,” she says.

Lucky for Baedine, she lives with a skilled producer (her husband), who has been happy to show her the ropes. “We sit together behind Abelton, and he’s like, ‘okay, this does this, this does that.’ We made a track together, but it’s very basic,” she chuckles. Nevertheless, one thing Baedine has never lost sight of is her dedication to music. We’re eager to see where those newfound production skills may take her. 

Catch Baedine on Thursdays from 6-8 PM EDT for “Trance Thursday.” Baedine also currently has a live show on the roadmap, where she’s slated to open for Sequence Six at ZuZu in Boston. 

Connect with Baedine on socials:

Instagram

Facebook