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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.  

soix
devinplombier
91 posts
 

I can definitely feel the toe-tapping quality in the Bombino and Chris Rea songs. At the same time, I can't disagree that Chris Rea was garbage, so it seems PRAT and crappy music are not mutually exclusive.

I can feel no PRAT in the Stevie Ray Vaughn piece nor in thriller, however.

Considering that PRAT clearly manifested through the diminutive speakers of my Pixel phone, I would venture that PRAT is very real but that it can safely be ignored as a selection criterium for audio equipment. PRAT lives in the music, not the system, and I can't imagine equipment so bad it can't reproduce something a smartphone can.

jastralfu's avatar
jastralfu
336 posts
 

This Hendrix song has it in spades, at least for me

https://youtu.be/wtveDXqvdL8?si=Rx_jL3NnJ5h7l4qe

steakster
1,866 posts
 
@stuartk
You might check out this analysis, exploring how Little Wing in fact incorporates both straight time and swing, which is why it’s deceptively difficult to get right: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0uGDYs__ZP8

 

Thx for posting a link to this video. I found it fascinating. The presenter did a great job.

jeffrey75's avatar
jeffrey75
109 posts
 

@soix

This “toe tapping” thing is just totally lost on me, and I guess I’m just missing it or don’t hear that way.

 

I hear you buddy you can not hear PRaT if your focus is on the beat that everybody else is following for proper timing. Possibly you hear everything else not supplying the beat as being one or two steps behind the beat that is being generated. Drummers are the foundation if they are off chasing something else everything is just going to fall apart but they do disguise their metronome by laying down some cymbal decay to cover their tracks and fills to punctuate what everybody else is doing to disguise it.

immatthewj
1,864 posts
 

....20' above it, 50 yards from the mudfield....slept through the night mostly, waking to heavy rain and the winds.  Nil damage.

@asvjerry  , straying from OP's topic, I am happy to read that you were spared from the major devastation.  It was horrific to see on television, and I cannot imagine what it would be like to actually experience losing everything.  PRaT takes a back door to that.

Back on topic, after following this thread for a bit now, as nearly as I can ascertain, PRaT seems to be in the ear of the beholder.  If it gets your toe tapping it has PRaT?  In that case, although my system is hardly 'end game',  I've been listening to and experiencing PRaT for quite some time without realizing it.  ​​​​​​

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