Expert: Dustin Martin - 2/8/2009

Question
Hello Dustin, how are you?

I have a problem with understanding this sentence.
Adam from U2, working in the studio, said: Flood keyed my bass part off Larry's bodhran, which gave it a much more bubbly, off-beat feel and then we overdubbed a few things and the drum pasrt went on.

--- I really am not sure what he's talking about. I understand it this way: Flood removed Adam's drum part [but does it mean that he removed his bass part from the whole track?] and thanks to this Larry's part on the bodhran was more alive and irregualr [I'm not sure if irregular is a good word here?] and then they added a few more things to the track (overdubbed) and THE DRUM PART WENT ON (what does he mean by the drum part went on? Does it mean Larry started playing the drums at the time?)

I understand almost all of the words (apart from "key off" but I don't get the overall meaning of this sentence?)
How would you explain that in simple terms to someone whose first language is not English?

All the best!

Answer
To understand this sentence you have to understand what it means to key a bass part from the bodhran (a type of drum). Keying an instrument is done by sending the bass through a piece of equipment, or outboard gear, called a noise gate. In this case the noise gate is set to only allow an output signal when the drum is hit, otherwise the gate is shut and noise is not allowed to pass.

For a better understanding of noise gates here is a good site. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Noise_gate

overdub - adding additional tracks. (i.e. guitar solos, harmony, etc)
Bodhran- an irish drum

Larry's part on the bodhran was more alive and irregular. This statement most likely just means that the song contains less common rhythmic elements.