Do I need to clean my LP's?

[Tom C]

That’s exhaustively detailed. At least I’m exhausted.

 

[mike70]

I don't agree with methods without vacuum ... there's always residues. Always.
Without vacuum you're moving dirt from here to there .. and in most cases only taking out a minimal part, the more superficial.
Vacuum extracts the fluid with the dirt, together. If you dry the fluid ... dirt stays.

You have many options, since a totally manual method with a Squeaky Clean until a totally automatic fancy machine. Choose your poison

But, for me, without vacuum you're not really cleaning records deeply.

 

[LTig]

What I can say from experience in the 70's is that (at least in Germany) simple destilled water is not clean enough, you need to buy double distilled water. My chemistry teacher at that time mixed a fluid for me using alcohol and simple distiled water for wet playing, which was much cheaper then tue official Lenco fluid.Sadly after several plays there was much residual left in the groove that did not solute when playing wet again. One particilar record was beyond repair so I had to buy it again. After that experience I refrained from mixing my own fluid.

 

[Digby]

I don't think you need to clean new records unless you are hearing excess background noise.

I'm not sure that fingerprints, as long as they are from clean fingers, cause noise on records. Sweat is mainly salt and grease, I have records from some time back with fingerprints that don't produce any background noise on playing. I think what produces noisy records is high humidity and/or fluctuating temperatures, which allows the bacteria in the paper sleeve and air to feed on any contaminants on the vinyl and cause surface noise through mould growth. Every record I've purchased from a shop that has that characteristic mould smell (from poor insulation) has had background noise. The same happens with books. High humidity and fluctuating temperatures = mould spotting.

I don't think most cleaning fluid will properly remove such mould, the best is probably a discofilm/glue peel, ultrasonic may also work (albeit expensive).

I find carbon fibre brushes shed bristles into the grooves, which adds noise to playback. Microfibre clothes are probably fine. I doubt it is possible to clean anything deep from inside the grooves with dry brushing.

 

[mike70]

let me say that i never ... never listened to that kind of arguments.

i respect your opinion anyway, but ... i don't agree with anything

 

[Timcognito]

I bought my first LP in '65 Rubber Soul and still have it. Cleaning it made it sound better. Leaving it in the sleeve and playing it on Qobuz made it sound great. If you have the stuff, play, clean, then play again on some that are not so treasured and see what happens. I bet you hear some improvements.

 

[Digby]

let me say that i never ... never listened to that kind of arguments.

Glad I could be of assistance. Here is another argument you may not have heard, have you considered that plastic lined, anti-static sleeves might do more harm than good, by providing no absorption (as paper does) to changes in humidity and allowing it (humidity) to sit, trapped on the surface of the record, neither absorbing nor evaporating. It is probably no big deal, but in a humid environment I would stick with paper sleeves.

 

[digitalfrost]

Unfortunately a lot of LPs that you buy new are packed in paper inserts, and as the vinyl rubs against them, little paper material gets loose as they are not clean when you take them out of the packaging for the first time.

What I generally do is, I clean them with a self-made cleaning solution, consisting of alcohol, cleaned water and antistatic wetting solution. I put it on the record, distribute it with a microfiber brush and then remove everything with microfibre cloths. It's not a cleaning machine, but I think it's damn close for a fraction of the cost.

After playing I put the vinyl into Nagaoka No. 102 sleeves. They can go into the orignal paper sleeves. After this process, the vinyl stays clean for a long time, because of the antistatic wetting agent and the good sleeves so you will rarely have to do this again.

I have played records without cleaning if they looked pristine. As soon as you get clicks, it's time to think about cleaning. I cannot recommend the Nagaoka sleeves enough, the stock paper sleeves are garbage.

 

[Digby]

I cannot recommend the Nagaoka sleeves enough, the stock paper sleeves are garbage.

In what way. Yeah, the first time there is little bits of paper, just brush them off. Paper is more environmentally friendly than plastic and none of the records I have are any worse for being in paper sleeves, many have been in them for years from new.

 

[mike70]

Glad I could be of assistance. Here is another argument you may not have heard, have you considered that plastic lined, anti-static sleeves might do more harm than good, by providing no absorption (as paper does) to changes in humidity and allowing it (humidity) to sit, trapped on the surface of the record, neither absorbing nor evaporating. It is probably no big deal, but in a humid environment I would stick with paper sleeves.

Ok, I understand better now. Thanks, you're awesome

 

[BadAudioAdvice]

New, or used, all records need to be cleaned properly.

With a small investment in cleaning supplies to follow the Precision Aqueous Cleaning of Vinyl Records (PACRV) method (repeating link from earlier: https://thevinylpress.com/app/uploads/2022/01/PACVR_3rd-Ed_2022-01-17_Master.pdf) where the science behind each step and choice is thoroughly explained, you can get "end game" clean records, and not need to worry about prematurely wearing out the record, or stylus.

I was able to resurrect this:

Using these:

And the result was:

Note, the lighting makes it look like there is a long white streak on the left side - there is none.

For a sixty year old record, that you would've hesitated to touch with bare hands, the outcome is fantastic.

My only mistake was to set up the microscope near a fan in a dusty room (unavoidable due to the heat and no air-conditioning at home), which deposited the small specs of dust seen in the post-cleaning picture. However, they are are easily removed using the recommended Kinetronics cloth or Teflon rod.

The results using this method are outstanding, very cost effective, but the cleaning process does take a bit of time.

P.S. My point of comparison for PACVR method is after having gone through all types of brushes, lots of the "best" fluids, e.g. L'art Du Son, TTVJ, DIY concoctions, and using a SpinClean, a SqueakyClean, an Okki Nokki, and Kirmuss Ultrasonic.

 

[krabapple]

I used the wood glue method on the handful of records I wanted to clean recently before digitizing. Worked fine for me.

 

[MattHooper]

I use my Degritter Ultra Sonic record cleaner. Works fantastic. I clean a record, then put it in a clean new Diskeeper anti-static record sleeve. Once I've washed a record I don't really think about washing it again. Just a brush if there's a bit of dust on top. (And frankly I don't wash all my records, usually it's the ones that look dirty or that sound dirty).

 

[Godataloss]

I can't believe the number of responses here from people that don't clean their records, lol. Most records are unlistenable after a few plays unless you are living in a laboratory clean room. I might not clean a new record prior to play if it looks decent (many come grubby as hell from the factory), but they all get cleaned before they get filed into the collection and then cleaned as needed. Sometimes just a few minutes in my DIY ultra sonic to remove static. Protip- use a couple ml's of quaternary ammonia in the rinse water to control static. Also, I stopped using my vacuum table once I built an ultrasonic cleaner a few years ago. If a record is dirty enough to need mechanical (actually touching the record surface) cleaning, I just do it in the sink with Dawn and a microfiber cloth prior to the ultra sonic. Having a large volume of rinse water via the sink is preferable to pretending you are dissolving contaminants with the miniscule amount of water used on the vac table.

 

[MakeMineVinyl]

I can't believe the number of responses here from people that don't clean their records, lol. Most records are unlistenable after a few plays unless you are living in a laboratory clean room.

My room is a dedicated studio and my turntable has a lid which is always down when playing a record. Beyond that, if brushed before playing, dirt and dust just simply isn't a problem, and I've been doing it for decades. Believe or not it is possible.

 

[Godataloss]

My room is a dedicated studio and my turntable has a lid which is always down when playing a record. Beyond that, if brushed before playing, dirt and dust just simply isn't a problem, and I've been doing it for decades. Believe or not it is possible.

The mere act of playing induces static into the lp which makes it a literal dust magnet. You will never be able to completely remove that electrically-bonded dust with a brush. Also some new presses are positively grubby with (releaser?) contaminates. I've only been collecting records for about ten years though. Perhaps as a child of the compact disc era, I have a lower tolerance for controllable noise contamination.

 

[MakeMineVinyl]

The mere act of playing induces static into the lp which makes it a literal dust magnet. You will never be able to completely remove that electrically-bonded dust with a brush. Also some new presses are positively grubby with (releaser?) contaminates. I've only been collecting records for about ten years though. Perhaps as a child of the compact disc era, I have a lower tolerance for controllable noise contamination.

Nope, records I play are usually very silent except for ticks which are on the record from the day the disc is new. It's not that I'm getting used to noise or can't hear it. Don't wouldn't assume that your experiences extend to anybody else in particular because you're bound to be wrong more times than you're right!

 

[MattHooper]

I can't believe the number of responses here from people that don't clean their records, lol. Most records are unlistenable after a few plays unless you are living in a laboratory clean room.

I don't find that to be the case. If a record plays pretty clean then just the occasional brush before playing seems fine, without need for cleaning.

But this of course enters the realm of the subjective and what one person will tolerate vs another.

 

[Godataloss]

I don't find that to be the case. If a record plays pretty clean then just the occasional brush before playing seems fine, without need for cleaning.

But this of course enters the realm of the subjective and what one person will tolerate vs another.

Indeed. One man's 'pretty clean' is another man's practically unlistenable. There is nothing subjective about the results from a good ultra sonic cleaning however. It was a revelation, not the least being the ease and complete removal of all static electricity. I have brushes- even the one with the radioactive isotope- they can only do so much.

 

[MakeMineVinyl]

Indeed. One man's 'pretty clean' is another man's practically unlistenable. There is nothing subjective about the results from a good ultra sonic cleaning however. It was a revelation, not the least being the ease and complete removal of all static electricity. I have brushes- even the one with the radioactive isotope- they can only do so much.

I don't see any subjectivity there at all. Either a disc is noisier than it was or it isn't. In my case, I know how much noise there is and where the ticks are. Maybe I have an exceptional memory - who knows. But there just isn't an increase with repeated plays. I have valued discs from the late 1960s and they are the same as when new (I know this because I tape recorded some of them back then and can directly compare).

I honestly can't comprehend why you think that your experiences automatically translate to anybody else. I can assure you that is not the case.