Cleaning vinyl records is one of the most painful aspects of vinyl addiction. No matter how clean and tidy you are, often your vinyl records need to be cleaned.
Worse still, if the recordings are not well treated, they are vulnerable to the infamous “clicks and pops” of vinyl playback.
In reality, many people argue that building gunk in record grooves has more of an impact on sound than scratches on the vinyl sheet.
The good news is that to clean vinyl records with soap and water is not a particularly difficult task. When brushing your teeth, it is becoming a ritual that you will not even note.
People who have never heard about cleaning vinyl records may be in a cleaning session lasting several hours.
The cleaning choices presented are diverse and summarized below.
Anti-static and anti-static Brushes are the best way to keep your vinyl collection clean. The key word to keep.
The anti-static brush is best to use before every record is played. It also extracts dust from the grooves of the album, but it is not going to deal with anything that is not superficial.
If you are a seasoned dealer and your vinyl is fresh or existing, then the anti-static brush is usually what you need.
A simple trick to stop you bending your wrists at strange angles is to put the record down on the counter, keep the counter moving, and then hold the brush in one position to remove all the dust as it goes through.
A lightweight tool, but highly successful, priced at less than 30 dollars is no brainer for someone who listens to vinyl.
Clean vinyl records by hand
Clean People with old and dusty albums with sound distortion or clear smudge marks need a way to clean their vinyl records, not simply keep them clean.
For both approaches, one element is common: purified water. Drinking water contains contaminants that could destroy your vinyl. You can buy bottled water from everywhere, even supermarkets and hardware stores.
Wash records using a microfiber cloth and purified water should erase just about any surface blemish. Although this technique works well for surface cleaning, it is not going to get deep into the grooves to every clicks and pops.
