Reducing background fizz and pops on Vinyl.


My Question is what are the best methods to reduce the background fizz and crackle on Albums. 99% are brand new Vinyl and sound excellent just when it goes thru silent passages it seems to enhance a bit. So is there a Liquid product to treat the vinyl, better stylus, or phono-preamp to help in this? I am not very experianced in Vinyl so I am sorry if this is not a valid situation to fix. Also, I use an Anti-static brush from audioquest before use which seems to pull all visible dust and contaminents. Thanks
matrix
I refuse to pay $30-$50 a gallon for record cleaner when I can make my own for pennies a gallon.I figure thats about what it costs for the "good stuff' and I wont pay someone to do what I can.
My cleaner is:
4 parts to 1 of distilled water and alcohol.Get as a high % as you can find and with no lanolin in it.
You can find 96% if you look.
Next in is 10 drops of Kodak photo-flow.You can get a life time supply at a camera shop for $4
Next in is 10 drops of Direct tile cleaner.Again,a life time supply for $3
I have found Groove-Glide @$25 a can 'ok' it's worth it I guess.Not a huge improvement but some.
Be careful the first time you use it.I caught quite a buzz the first time and I was laughing and flipping my expensive Japanese imports around the room like a frisbee the first time I used it.
Not quite as good as a killer doob though!
My formula is very similar to the one mentioned above. I clean a new record with this formula, and then apply last Xtra Strength cleaner, then record preserv., then place it in a VRP or VPI rice paper sleeve. I have many records which are very very silent. Only faint occasional noises which are not at all invasive. I also use stylast on the cartridge. It pays to get a quiet table like the VPI Aries (my choice) and there are other good ones... the table can create/transfer a lot of noise. Jandj
I have very little surface noise problems & I don't even have a cleaning machine! I do want to get one, but presently lacking any space to install one I've simply been doing without. What I do use is the good old DiscWasher handheld wet cleaner, which although not an optimum device it does do a decent job. I don't use it for every play, just occasionally, followed up with a Hunt EDA dry dust brush for every play. First I use a Zerostat antistatic gun on the LP, then the Hunt brush, then a blast of canned air to blow away any remaining dust specks. A dap of Record Research Labs LP9 on the stylus also helps to reduce surface noise as well as stylus & record wear. Last or GruvGlide on the LP makes them even quieter but I don't use it very often.
Maybe my good experiences are due to more than just these cleaning rituals. I've read that the overload charactaristic of your phono stage equates largely into this (some of them can handle signal levels OK, but they overload & accentuate surface noises if poorly designed). Other noise-factors I'm sure relate to turntable & stylus design (my setup is the VPI HW19MK4 with a Grado Signature arm & Grado Statement Reference woodbody cartridge). This rig sounds wonderful & I don't even have it fully tweaked as yet!
Okay the results are in----GRUV-GLIDE--- the most incredible 20 dollar investment I ever made, total SILENCE, I treated several albums Twice and could not even use up a quarter of the can.. AWESOME.. THANKS