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

@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.

....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.  ​​​​​​

Just got the Prat reference 

Lerxst, Dirk and Pratt will not soon be forgotten as the best rock band of all time.

Let loose the the dogs of war

Tony Rice, one of the legendary flatpickers, explains how his bands let the music breathe by mixing beats or a he rightfully calls it "pulse.

"Tony Rice On Time In Music

I've posted that in my opinion PRaT relates to the time domain, not the frequency domain that we usually talk about.  To the person that never listens to symphonic music, I would ask if that extends to films which use such music to underscore the drama?

Classical music almost always does have a beat, it is just not as in-your-face as some other genres and can be very complex and rewarding if you get it.  A big orchestra faces a big timing problem though - the visual clues from the conductor travel at the speed of light (near instantaneous) but sound is much slower.  It takes almost 1/10th of a second to travel 30-meters.  The Sydney Opera House Concert Hall stage is about 19-meters wide and is small for a major concert venue, because of the concrete shell surrounding it, although it is comparable with the Berliner Phiharmoniker  I pity the organist sitting high towards the roof looking in his rear-vision mirror down at the conductor in the distance!

Nevertheless conductors like John Wilson can make a good orchestra rock ...