Snap crackle and pop

I love vinyl. There's a nostalgia that is undeniable, but if im getting all audiophilish about things, vinyl is not the go to.

 

Works like a champ. On one or two occasions my buddy at work has one of those sonicators converted to rotate a record in. He has gotten some old Ventures albums a little cleaner than I could after I cleaned them in the manner described. 99% time what I did gets them as clean as you are going to. Usually if a record is that scuzzy, you'll find it hasn't been taken care of in the first place and what left over noise is little scratches.
It looks like new record when I am done. i don't blame you for not believing me. i wouldn't till I did it.

 

Another thing you can do is after the record is clean open up the jacket and clean the inside, with either compressed air or I guess you could also use 0 mini shop vac. I've seen shocking amounts of paper dust come out of old 60's records. I buy nice sleeves too if the record didn't come with them. Those crappy paper ones suck.

 

If you used to dry film that way, hopefully you added a couple drops of Kodak Photo flo to your rinse mixture when you air-dried your film, or else you would have spots on the film. The same should be done for record rinse.

 

Yes I did use photo-flo back then. Photo flo is a wetting agent it breaks the surface tension of the water so the water drains off the film faster. A small amount of alcohol in the water does the same thing, (though I never tried it for film, it seems to speed up the drying on records)
However it's really not necessary since water spots are caused by minerals and other junk in the water, which distilled water does not contain. So even if the water dries on there and nothing gets left behind it's not an issue. That's why the final rinse is with distilled water or distilled water and alcohol.
Well, then why didn't you do a final rinse in distilled water after washing your film? That would be a good question. Next week when I develop my first roll of film in 35 years, I probably will.

Somebody is also going to tell me, "oh man, there is all kinds of stuff in Isopropyl alcohol, other than alcohol and water". No there isn't. Not in the bottles I analyzed. The bottles I looked at came from Walmart and two major drug stores. Both 70 and 91% were fine.
Some have glycerine, and I think wintergreen oil. Those are labeled on the bottle.
I did not look at the hardware store variety.

I also dried records with microfiber towels. that works fine too, but some can leave a small amount of lint behind, which isn't really an issue because a carbon fiber brush will get that off. I have 2-4 people showering in my bathroom daily, so the resulting steam knocks down any airborne dust.
if one's bathroom is not in such condition, I would go the towel route or build or buy a vacuum system.

 

This is the label protector I use. I have zero affiliation with the company, which I am guessing is pretty small based on the packaging. Parts came in sandwich bags. The workmanship and quality is fantastic. Labels stay bone dry. Prior to this I used dent pullers. This thing works a whole lot better.
https://www.amazon.com/Groovmaster-Label-Saver-Record-Cleaner/dp/B00NP0QAOW
The biggest disadvantage with the method I described- letting the records air dry is that it's time consuming because you leave the groovemaster on. If one had a lot of records to do, probably would want to go the microfiber route.

 

Even using RCM with a vacuum and the recommend cleaning fluid with distilled water and alcohol, sometimes the vacuum doesn't pick up all the fluid and when dry, the record often has spots. I'm trying to find my photo-flo and add a couple drops to the gallon.

 

Then what you are talking about is different than the cleaning method I described. I am totally flushing the the record with tap water so there is nothing left over. No cleaners- nothing from the previous owner, DNA or otherwise. I might use a drop or two of Dawn in about 500 ml of water if there are finger prints then use a paint pad gently. That will get most fingerprints off. but when all is said and done I rinse it really good under the tap. Everything is gone. I use the bathtub spigot actually there is considerable amount of water gushing over the record.
Then I pour distilled water with or without some alcohol mixed in, maybe 1/4 of the gallon over the record to flush off any tap water. Just flood it over the record right out of the gallon. Then just let her dry.
My records get zero spots. LOL If the system I described didn't totally prevent them my records would be literally covered with spots, like my car is when I wash it from the same water supply and I don't dry it fast enough.
If you are getting waterspots, it's not from the distilled water it's because you are not getting as thorough of a rinse as i am. The distilled water probably becomes contaminated from stuff still on the record.

Both BH and Adorama both have darkroom supplies- and they both carry Photo-flo if you think it might help.

 

Here is something on You Tube. I like this guy's videos. I think he posts on this site. Where he focuses on the scrubbing part, I have been really more into not trying to touch the record though in reality it probably would not hurt. So if the record I get doesn't have fingerprints or other schmutz all I do is really give it the bathtub blast to blow out all the paper dust and gunk.

 

I grew up with records. Started with an old Garrard turntable when I was 14. Maybe that's why surface noise doesn't really bother me.

 

I always thought I was immune to pops and crackles until I picked up a few of Eno's ambient albums on the (very) cheap. Now I'm not so sure. Although they do add an additional, and intriguingly unpredictable, layer of sound.

But I have also albums I bought used/scratched in my teens which, if I listen to any other pressing or format, sound wrong because that one particular click/stick/jump isn't there,

 

You had a Garrard? Aristocrat.

 

Oh my god. You're serious, aren't you.

 

LOL if I sold you an old record cleaned up like that, how would you know it?

 

Oh yeah, my dad brought home a Garrard turntable and an Eico integrated amp with a severe channel imbalance from a yard sale. He probably paid less than $10 back in the summer of 68 for these pieces. I don't remember the model of the amp, but thanks to Google, I'm nearly positive the tt was an RC-80 like this one:

My brother and I rocked the neighborhood from our upstairs bedroom window when our parents were out.

 

Life has surface noise.

 

got it, I thought you meant a newer Garrard from that period.
I had a Panasonic 3 in one, TT, 8 -Track (that didn't work) receiver. It was awful.

 

I collect both, and while CDs are more reliable, I've had a handful that skip - including a recent used soundtrack that's unusable. At least vinyl will usually play, albeit not great-sounding.

 

Doesn't anyone just have fun buying records and playing them?

 

Just the buying part.

 

That's my regiment as well and I would only add that if I can find a given record as issued in Japan or Germany, I'll go for that 'cause the vinyl is so much better (all else held constant- in particular the condition of the record and master from which the record is taken).

 

That's good to know. The old click repair software I use (DCArt) is not good with horn and organ recordings. It makes 'em sound like comb-on-paper kazoos - very brittle.

 

Seriously?

 

Records, records and more records like the mountain of treasure crated up at the end of Citizen Kane.

My prospective 1955 first pressing of In the Wee Small Hours, 10 inch 2-EP is in there somewhere.

 

There were two 10 inch LPs (each with 8 songs) that comprised the 12 inch, 16 song LP. Then there were four individual 4-song 45 RPM EPs, then there were two gatefold double 7 inch EP albums. So you need 4 variations just to cover the first USA pressing, 11 records in all (eight 7 inch 45s, two 10 inch 33s, and one 12 inch 33). Now if they had made 78s you'd need more.

In some ways, the two gatefold double EPs are the coolest, because the inside the gatefold has a classic 7 inch square photo of Sinatra not on other covers