Record Cleaner won't clean?? Or is it me?

Over-vacuuming with a wand machine can create static too, @lewm. 

I don't have an answer to the OP's question without breaking down the process, including the positioning of the wand-- I don't know the Music Hall, but know the original VPI 16/16.5 and its progeny. The position of the vacuum wand is critical.

Backing up, as others have noted, application of the fluid is important- a decent relatively cheap application brush is the Osage Audio. I use different applicators for different purposes- mild clean - Monks brush; deeper clean with agitation, the Walker Audio unidirectional pile applicators.

I do agree with a pure water rinse step. 

Once the machine is correctly set up (I used two wands pre-mounted on their pillars with the old VPI, enabling me to swap out the fluid step vacuum for the rinse step vacuum in a couple seconds, and the height of the wand relative to the record surface is correct (if I recall on the VPI, there was a nut, like one would use for VTA/SRA adjustments), the questions would seem to be in the method and technique since most of the "cleaning" is done manually. 

What stereo5 said and what lewm just repeated is a misunderstanding.  I just changed the brush in my HW-17, which I have owned since I bought it new in 1986.  It has cleaned literally tens of thousands of records.  It now has pride of place in our second home in NH.  It has replaced an HW-16.  I also have an MW-1 Cyclone at our home in FL, which has already been used to clean well over 1,000 records, with ~ 7,000 remaining from an estate.  But if you don't believe what I am about to compose here, I invite you to verify it by calling VPI directly.  First, the bristles of their brush, or any other brush on the market for that matter, are not fine enough to reach into the grooves of a record.  The VPI brush is stiff yes, and it is superior to any other I have found for cleaning very dirty records.  It is especially effective at removing stuff that nothing else seems to touch (peanut butter and jelly?) that seems to accumulate on rare old jazz records that I find at garage sales.  Anyway, I am not in anyway trying to diss the VPI brush, just stating the facts.  Second, if you over vacuum your just cleaned record a static charge accumulates in consequence.  This is the result of the friction between the velvet lips on the pickup tube and the surface of the record.  You can verify this for yourself by deliberately over drying a record.  Or you can call VPI for confirmation.  I do not like to be argumentative and hope you will accept this information in the friendly spirit in which it is provided.

“Velvet lips”, yes, might induce a static charge. That’s not caused by the vacuum. You can do the same by simply rubbing an LP with a velvet cloth. Also, believe it or not, there are vacuum based RCMs that do not use a wand with velvet lips to remove liquid (Loricraft, etc). Those machines don’t induce static charge. I love my VPI HW17, btw.

Also, I never said the VPI brush gets into grooves. I may have implied it’s superior to the Audioquest brush for the purpose of wet cleaning, and I stand by that.

lewm, the Music Hall RCM has a pick up tube with velvet lips much like the VPI machines.  If the OP is over doing the vacuum drying it could be causing static build up.  It might be a factor in his noise issue.  That is all I was saying.  If he was using a Loricraft or a Monks, I would not have mentioned it as a possibility.  You should love your HW17.  I am enjoying the ease of use and effectiveness of mine.  Truth to tell, having used the HW16, HW17 and MW1, they all provide very much the same end result.  The 17 is the easiest to use, the MW1 is more powerful, but unless you work it using 3 brushes, and 3 separate pickup tubes to avoid cross contamination from using strong cleaning, distilled water rinse, intermediate cleaning, another rinse, and then perhaps a final ultra sonic cleaning, the results from the 17 and the MW1 are basically indistinguishable.  What I mean is to achieve a superior result from the MW1 requires extra time and effort.  Too, it would be possible to come close using the 17, all that would be missing is the two direction vacuum, which is not a big deal at all.  Having the MW1 is nice for the big collection I am working on now as it does speed things up somewhat.  The VPI brush is unique and IMHO superior to others I have tried.  I currently have a Record Doctor brush a Sage and a MoFi and three or four VPIs including a brand new one installed yesterday on my 17.

This is just my experience so take it for what it is. 50% of the time I find the noise is caused by my stylus being dirty, which usually is caused by not cleaning a new record or my golden retriever’s hair. 
After cleaning the stylus there’s still noise it goes to the ultrasonic. My experience is even with VPI cleaning there can still be noise which a trip through the ultrasonic corrects. 
I make it a practice to ultrasonic clean all records when I first get them regardless of whether they were previously cleaned or not, that includes new vinyl which can sometimes be the dirtiest. 
i

I love my HumminGuru

I know doesn’t help OP with VPI . Just another option