As he began playing something unusual caught my attention ~ I could hear a melody coming from the drums. Akira had five trigger pads (two on the right side and three on the left side of his drum kit) that he had programmed to a set of single sequenced notes when struck. One of the pads was used to change the sequence to a different part of the musical piece has was playing. It was brilliantly executed and quit thrilling to watch. After playing a few songs (yes songs ~ not just some heavy beat and a mind-blowing solo like most clinics you see) he tasteful mentioned his sponsors and talked about his setup. “These are Yamaha Oak Custom drums in universal sizes ~ very nice” and “these are Vic Firth Akira Jimbo sticks ~ also, very nice.” Akira explained his method of tuning the drums. He uses Remo clear Emperor heads on the top and clear Ambassador heads on bottom of his toms tuning both heads to the same pitch being careful not to choke the drum. That is to say he tunes the drums each to its self (finding each drums best tone). The toms where tuned close to thirds. If the drum has a longer sustain then he likes he tunes the bottom head slightly higher. For the bass drum he likes the Remo Power Stroke 3 just hand tightened. Lastly, he uses coated Ambassadors cranked way down on his signature Yamaha snare. Akira uses various “A” and “K” Zildjian cymbals. Here I must apologize for the only size I caught was that the high hats are 13” because he likes a fast, tight high hat sound.