These Beats Were Made for Walking provides an alternate soundtrack for New West walks

It was Neal Michael’s visit to the Salvation Army thrift store a few years ago that set the foundations for These Beats Were Made for Walking. The New West resident found an interesting record made by an Ontario man who had recorded himself in the great outdoors.

“He was doing these recordings of himself canoeing through some of the northern Ontario lakes, and along these rivers,” Michael tells New West Anchor. “You could hear his paddle, the lake… it was just really interesting audio.”

Michael was instantly captivated. He paid $2 for the record, brought it home, and came up with a similar idea of his own—a series of soundwalks that offer the listener/walker what he calls an alternate soundtrack to the rhythm of the city. He already had a zoom at home, which he had bought to record his daughter, who was learning how to play violin.

The soundwalks were a way for Michael to combine his love of the city, the neighbourhood walks he goes on, and the beauty of the soundscape. He records his walk and the sounds along the route, then adds music that complements it.

Michael recorded his first one in 2020. “[It was] the first year of COVID, because everybody’s looking for stuff to do,” he explains, noting that the first one was also a Jane’s Walk. The first soundwalk was recorded around Glenbrook Ravine, since Michael and his family live close to Albert Crescent Park.

“The route starts at Clarkson and Elliot, then it walks up through Albert Crescent and then kind of through Queen’s Park. Then, back to Glenbrook Ravine and basically back to Albert Crescent,” he says. While he’s walked other routes, he’s always loved that first one.

“New West is a very loud city, just given the way our location [is] with major roads criss-crossing on all sides. It’s really loud, you’ve got the trains, the hub of SkyTrain. So Glenbrook is probably one of the truly quiet spots,” Michael explains.

There are some layers to this experience: Michael hopes people will take the time to enjoy local nature in any season. “There are lots of interesting possibilities, and there’s the idea of revisiting a route. In the Pier Park [one] you can hear a little bit of snow, there was still some snow leftover when I recorded it,” he says. Michael says he wasn’t so tuned into birds, but noted the changes in their singing at different times of the day.

Every walk will be unique to the participant. Things might not line up exactly with his audio because you might get a green light where he got a red light. He recommends doing the Glenbrook Ravine walk in the morning.

Check out his soundwalks, which also include maps for reference.