My short definition for PRaT: You can clearly hear how different voices and instruments are interacting together in music. This is particularly evident in jazz music as a vast generality.
What exactly is PRaT???
Ok, it’s like this thing and is associated with “toe tapping” and such. I confess, I don’t get it. Apparently companies like Linn and Naim get it, and I don’t and find it a bit frustrating. What am I missing? I’m a drummer and am as sensitive as anyone to timing and beats, so why don’t I perceive this PRaT thing that many of you obviously do and prize as it occurs in stereo systems? When I read many Brit reviews a lot of attention goes to “rhythm” and “timing” and it’s useless to me and I just don’t get it. If someone can give me a concrete example of what the hell I’m not getting I’d sincerely be most appreciative. To be clear, enough people I greatly respect consider it a thing so objectively speaking it’s either something I can’t hear or maybe just don’t care about — or both. Can someone finally define this “thing” for me cause I seriously wanna learn something I clearly don’t know or understand.
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@immatthewj ....20' above it, 50 yards from the mudfield....slept through the night mostly, waking to heavy rain and the winds. Nil damage. We're on the 'wrong side of the tracks' from the Biltmore entry, west of the McDowell bridge. Everything betwixt was a sheet of clay-colored mud water...a leaning high-tension power tower (since replaced), the entry mentioned shattered... Power back in 2.5 weeks, water back a week later....it's nice not to have to flush with a 5 g. bucket anymore....(...surprises one how often you end up doing that...). Feel extremely lucky, and somewhat shell-shocked in some ways... Your city got torn into halves. Literally. Too many stories to tell here... Thanks for asking. ;) J
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While I understand where our friend, above, "actor, singer, stage director and audiobook narrator" is coming from, the acronym’s origins are different. They were brilliantly marketed (perhaps coined, I don’t know) many decades ago by the owner of Linn to promote the sound of the Linn / Ittok TT + Naim amplification combo. The idea was to point to what those devices did well, excluding everything else (where they were mediocre). The sound was somewhat mid-bass heavy, with mediocre resolution by today’s standards, but with very coherent mid-range restitution.
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Good summary Gregm. The irony is that the the LP12 of the mid eighties had dreadful micro timing stability due to the movement of the subchassis/armboard relative to the platter. Linn's mantra was pitch and rhythm. I have a feeing it was the journalists at The Flat Response magazine that converted that into PRaT. |
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