Cleaning records. How often really?


Suppose, they have just been machine-cleaned and are played maybe two times a month in a regular environment.
Also treated with Last record preservative and kept in sealed outer sleeves.
Once a year or so?
Just don't tell me before each play, yeah, I heard of this insane approach.
inna

Showing 1 response by albertporter

Here are some points I will add to what has already been posted here.

The Last company did indeed make a product that was advertised as mold release and it was eventually banned because it was a Freon compound which was a great cleaning agent but believed to cause harm to our ozone layer.

Today there is a product called Premier and it is similar to Freon in it’s ability to clean but approved to not harm the atmosphere. I have both products and they work about equally.

There may or may not be anti stick compounds sprayed onto vinyl records during pressing. I've been told by several people that it was common practice at one time, especially when there were issues with vinyl quality. There was a time when Vinyl was recycled and there were sometimes debris visible poking out of the grooves. I’ve seen it myself, the worst of all was a broken scrubber bristle (metal) which cut my finger as I tried to scrape it off the album. Can you imagine what that would have done to a good cartridge?

As for cleaning beyond First (the cleaner from Last) I've owned Nitty Gritty, VPI, Odyssey RCM, Audio Desk and KL Audio. Yes is the answer to, "Does cleaning more than one time help sound."

I have old LPs that have been cleaned with all these machines and the last two, Audio Desk and KL Audio and both of these cleaning machines brought performance up enough that all the listeners in the room commented.

If I had to pick only one machine as my forever record cleaner, it would be the KL Audio Ultrasonic and fill only with NERL Reagent grade water, with or without cleaning ahead of time with another product.

I will throw in another thought here. There were times when people believed that adding fluids to their Discwasher or spraying LPs with silicone treatment (labeled cleaner) was a great idea. It may have reduced tracking noise with those old picnic player single speaker record machines but years later all that gunk is still attached to the LP.

I suspect some of us have a few of those LPs in our collection because at that time there were some great classical, jazz and even pop music and that was the only format of that period.

Some records are really dirty, some have never been cleaned and it’s a real eye opener when you do a before and after with one.

Heck, my pristine Blue Note reissues from Music Matters and Acoustic Sounds benefit from my KL Audio even though they appear perfect.