Do you clean your records before play, after play, or once (and then never again)?


All my records have been cleaned at least once, but after play, I'll drop it in my Klaudio ultrasonic cleaner for a quick re-clean. I figure if my stylus is digging / loosening anything in the grooves, it's a good opportunity to get that junk out of there. How about you?
128x128nrenter
I have used 'The Last Factory" record cleaning and treatment for products and have found they work as described. I wouldn't be without them.
@ptss,

I think Last Record Preservative is the next step of awesomeness after an ultrasonic cleaning. 

I’ve been using Last Preservative since it was first introduced in the 1980’s. Designer/inventor Walter Davies did a lot of research into the subject of LP wear, and his products are the real deal, no snake oil. The active chemicals in the Preservative bond with vinyl on a molecular level, preserving the integrity of the bond between the molecules of the vinyl in LP’s. That prevents tiny chunks of the vinyl coming loose during play, which is one of the major forms of wear in LP grooves.

Consumer tip: When the Preservative bonds with the vinyl, it "pushes" any contaminants in the LP groove to the surface. After you apply the product, you may need to reclean the LP to remove those now-freed contaminants. The Preservative has been incorrectly blamed for increasing groove noise because of this fact.

Great thread nrenter, thanks. I had contributed on it, but had forgotten about it!
New records need to be cleaned before play to remove mold release agents that are left on the records from the stampers. It's harder to remove this after a stylus has pressed them into the vinyl grooves. You may not hear pops ans such, but you will not hear all of the music either.
I play new records a few times to "de-bur" the newly pressed groove before using the RCM.

Many older audiophile record covers noted to "de-bur", by playing a few times, resulting in improved sonics.
don_c55

From my memory those record labels said the reason one may hear a few ticks on their new records was that they did not de-horn their cutter head. Thus, the end user had this issue.

I can't imagine that not cleaning a new record until playing a few times would in any way be beneficial to a lp.
I don't always clean my records, but when I do (with a VPI 16.5) it's before I play the record