Guest post by Mark Deutrom ©
It never ceases to amaze me how in some movie or TV show, a hipster type or hopelessly out of touch nerd attempts to demonstrate their heartwarming eccentricity by playing a scratchy LP and making a statement to the effect that somehow all of the audio debris surrounding the content adds some kind of intrinsic value to the overall experience. This is, of course, as absurd as insisting that the sound of a CD skipping adds to that listening experience, or that the sound of a leaf blower enhances that perfect summer day.
Anyone serious about listening to vinyl knows that they are engaged in an endless quest that is a combination of archeology, alchemy and physics. The archeology is to dig out every last piece of information from the groove of a record, even if that information is tape hiss or good old musical silence, and still produce the lowest noise floor possible from the surface of an LP. There’s something really awe-inspiring about the inky black velvet silence surrounding the music from a clean, quality pressing reproduced through a decent system. This blackness breathes and has an organic sense to it, as opposed to the sequence of zeros that the silence of digital audio reproduces as absolute dead space.
Since most of the records in circulation at this point are used records, it is virtually our duty to be custodians of them. It is sobering to realize that many of the great vinyl recordings in all genres will never be issued again in their original unremastered versions, and that there is a finite amount of those that were actually taken care of by their owners. The remastering debate is another issue, but record care should be an obvious point that is beyond debate, especially at a time when $20 is not considered outrageous for a new LP.
First a couple of basics that should appear to be common sense, but cannot be taken for granted:
- Always handle the record by the edges. Hands have oils that attract dirt. Dirt makes noise. A fingerprint on a record is like an oil stain in your driveway. Taking the record out of a sleeve using only the label and the edge may seem a little difficult to those who have never tried it, but your records will stay a lot cleaner as a result.
- Always keep the record in an inner sleeve, it will keep dust out and also protect it from scratches. You can purchase quality inner sleeves in bulk from various places online and in some stores also. It’s definitely worth substituting the paper sleeves of LPs in your collection with quality sleeves since paper can leave tiny scratches that can accumulate over time.
- Always retain the original paper inner sleeve, as this is part of the value of a collectable LP. Usually there’s room for an additional sleeve, or it can be kept in an outer clear sleeve that the cover is in. Outer clear sleeves are a great investment and can also be purchased in bulk. There are some excellent Japanese ones that can be resealed. These will protect the covers from the rings that LPs have caused by being packed too tightly and literally rubbing the artwork off the cover. Once again, this is all about protecting your investment.
Record cleaning has a lot of different schools and is highly subjective, as is most things with vinyl reproduction. The range of interpretation goes all the way from $2000 cleaning machines to wiping with a damp cloth, as is suggested on the inner sleeves of a variety of vintage stereo recordings.
A VPI machine like this is available to use at Breakaway Records for $1 a record.
Generally speaking, a record is best treated like a fine hardwood floor- get the dust and loose dirt off first with some kind of fine record brush, and then wash fairly gently with a non abrasive cloth using an effective degreaser, such as dishwashing liquid with warm water. Always use distilled water for washing as well as rinsing since it leaves no residue. For tougher oil and grease spots, a combination of pure grain alcohol like Everclear, and distilled water works really well, and you can vary the strength according to need.
Of course, you can always work your way through the many cleaning products that have appeared lately for cleaning records, but most are some kind of combination of what I’ve mentioned above. With a little attention, it can be revelatory what can be dug out of an LP from a local Goodwill or thrift store. At this point in musical reproduction, most music was created for listening to on vinyl. There’s really no substitute for that experience, and the cleaner you can get a record the closer you will get to the original intentions of those creators.
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