The vinyl record is a demanding medium: if it is not clean, it will hamper listening pleasure or worse, damage the stylus of your record player. It is therefore very important to clean a vinyl well before listening, especially if your disc comes from a garage sale or equivalent.
If the vinyl record is very dirty, then in this case you can’t do without specialized equipment, which can be called the best vinyl record cleaner, but if you want to keep the media clean and do regular cleanings, then the material in this article will be useful.
Why clean your vinyls?
Over time, impurities settle on the groove and prevent your phono cell from functioning optimally. This most often results in “clicks”, or more or less significant background noise. Cleaning your vinyl allows you to find an optimal sound.
Before cleaning vinyl with the machine or with a liquid, it is important to dust it with a suitable brush: if not, the impurities accumulated in the discs will be moved on the surface, and will then cross the furrow when you wipe the disc with a cloth. Micro-scratches guaranteed.
Note
Beware, it is important not to clean your discs with any product containing alcohol or glass cleaners, otherwise, they will deteriorate and therefore lose sound quality. There are many products specially formulated so as not to damage your precious collection.
Cleaning with fluids
There are many vinyl cleaning fluids. These products are specially formulated not to damage your discs and are not only effective against dust, but also grease.
First of all, pass a little velvet brush on your vinyl to remove dust on the surface.
Then take the liquid of your choice, and follow the instructions: most vinyl cleaning fluids should be diluted in water.
Above all, only use distilled or demineralized water!
Then apply the mixture of liquid and water on the entire surface of the disc: for this, it is advisable to use a microfiber cloth (avoid the chamois which can make micro-scratches) that you will have wet with your cleaning solution. Repeat on the entire disc.
The disc must then be dried because any product leaves traces: to avoid this, the disc is gently wiped by tapping with a suitable soft cloth.
The only drawback of this technique is the time spent cleaning: for some recovered discs, no problem.