I have experimented with several "solutions" and i have found a mixture of isopropyl alcohol, (or methanol, ethanol), mild dish soap, and water works pretty well. The key is to get the mixture into the grooves and the alcohol breaks down the surface tension of water so it gets into the groove easier. The soap acts as a surfactant and helps lift the gunk (dirt, grease, etc) out of the grooves. The key is to use mostly distilled water and a small amount of soap. Too much soap will leave a residue. I usually mix a pint of water with maybe 1 cc or 2cc of liquid soap. Then I add about 1 ounce of alcohol. The way i know i have about the right amount of alcohol is to put a drop on a record. If the drop spreads out into the grooves well, i have the right amount of alcohol. If it beads up, I add a little more alcohol. I have been using this generic solution for about 30 years. I use a simple (but old) discwasher brush and it works pretty well. I have used a friends VPI record cleaner when I have a record that I can not clean well with the disc washer brush. Those machines are great but most of my albums were brought new and since I clean them each time i use them, i never seemed to convince myself I needed a vpi. But they work extremely well.
Generic Record Cleaning Solutions
I own an Orbitrac record cleaner and the fluid ran out. I was about to buy replacement fluid and got to thinking about generally available stuff, like generally available in a hardware store. I've got some trashed records I won't play due to clicks and pops, so I tried denatured alcohol. It dries quite quickly and without residue or water left behind. I could find no softening of the vinyl or other deterioration of the record surface. Has anyone tried out something similar? I'm now wondering about carbon tetrachloride, xylene, Methyl Ethyl Ketone, god knows what other carcinogenic fluids I can try.