Storing vinyl the proper way

Or you don’t know what you don’t know. Either way, you don’t think you could be shortening the life of your stylus?

If you choose not to clean new records, that’s your choice. Not everyone cleans their car either. But it’s not good practice and, in particular, it’s not good advice to a self-described rookie.

 

I think I gave him fair advice. We are not all obsessive compulsive, you know?

 

That was the “rationalizing” part I referred to...

 

Ya, o.k. - make sure you rinse well too, right?

 

Thank you record wizard extraordonaire.

 

It’s just facts mixed with common sense...nothing unique or extraordinary about it.

 

While I do it, I dont really notice there to be any sonic difference. Sometimes I feel like there might be, but I always just attribute that as my mind thinking it should sound better after cleaning.

 

I do this to the covers that are very thin to prevent ring wear and for sleeves that are more complicated to take the record out of, easier access. It does take slightly more space however.

 

This!

 

Personally I would not advice anyone who doesnt AT LEAST have a spin clean to clean their records. Preferably an RCM like the Record Doctor V is what Id recommend for people who want to clean for real for the least amount of money possible.

 

I don't have at least a spin clean nor any other device and I've been cleaning my own records for almost 30 years to good results and no damage to any of them that I can recall.

 

Yes, many do. But to me its simply a counterproductive task, depending on your method.

 

Long time since I responded to this thread! Anyway, at the moment I'm not cleaning my records, but maybe in the near future this will change. But don't have any issues with the new vinyl I bought, so probably most important reason to buy any vinylcleaner device to be able to clean secondhand vinyl.
Furthermore I changed from putting the LPs inside the cover to putting them behind the cover to have easier access to my LPs; really like it this way and was also suggested by many of you.

 

Yes, it can be. I'm just registering a different point of view. Actually, I would advise quite the opposite, if you have a dirty record, clean it. There are several ways to do that without machines. I learned with my parents in the old days. Now you have YouTube and forums like this to help.

 

People can help, but I would not exactly advice all help either. Some people put car scratch removal fluid on their records to help with reducing pops, sounds great they say. Most peoples methods Ive seen on youtube just involve putting on alcohol and water, the record then gets a wipe with some type of cloth or brush and is left to dry. To me thats just pushing the dirt deeper in the grooves while the only thing you get off is the non trivial surface dirt. And I mean, if you only use styli that scratch the very top of the groove walls on very small surface points like conicals then it might sound a bit cleaner too.
To give an analogy regarding a method like that is to me like you are swabbing a floor and all you get to use is a mop. You got most of the dirt away from the floor but once you work your way to a corner you get stuck. Try as you might you will only push the dirt into the corner more. Thats the clumsy nature of most manual cleaning.

 

You will still get a cleaner floor that you would do if you didn't use the mop. You may get rid of a lot of dirty with this method. Plus, the mop won't damage your floor if you carefully use a good one. I see no reason why you should leave your floor uncleaned just because you don't have a vacuum, or why you would advice anyone not to clean his floor unless he has at least a good machine to do that.

 

Apart from the dirtier plants like United or, to a lesser extent, GZ media.

Usually, though, I find if new records are noisy then it’s usually a pressing issue rather than a contaminent.

 

Well the problem is that in a sense the middle floor is more so the surface of the vinyl. It looks good at first glanse but if you look at the corners you see the sloppy work. Sort of when your mom scolds you for sweaping dust under the rug to just hide the problem. I wonder what the dirt thats pushed hard into a corner and dries can do also, maybe get stuck there forever?
Maybe once one tries to use a stylus like a Shibata it picks up more noise and sounds worse than a conical or elliptical.
If you live in the US a Record Doctor V isnt that expensive and can save you money in the long run as well. Less fluid is needed typically.
There are also smaller brands that do a more DIY approach to vacuum by using your own vacuum cleaner at home and some of them only cost 99$.

 

Right, I just cant get some pops off certain records from GZ for example. I wonder, is it groove disformation or is it just really stuck on dirt?

 

I have had a lot of GZ pressings that I’ve deep cleaned and on a lot of them, it usually is a pressing issue unfortunately and you may get a small difference at best. I wish that rather than this obsession with 180g vinyl, pressing plants would just use virgin vinyl at standard weight.

 

Too true, although I do love holding a heavy record as well.

 

IMHO the GZ pressings are very good nowadays. They've really listened to all the complaints they got a couple of years ago when they had the pressing issues you describe- their QC is far better now.

 

Yes I agree, they look much better. I regard them as better than Optimal right now.

 

I agree, Optimal was one of the outstanding pressing plants a couple of years ago- one wonders what happened there. Maybe their maximum capacity now has reached its top limit, the demand for new vinyl records is constantly rising and the industry have problems to keep up...

 

Agree. And they can still press a flawless record. But they have an issue with the cooling process, so many records with terrible no-fill. The last National record had constant ripping sound for the first side....completely unlistenable. Got a replacement and almost as bad. I contacted them a couple of times and recently did so again, now their main email address seems to have been taken out of use. I wonder if they have had a lot of complaints. Even the latest MBV reissues, many were talking about widespread excessivenoise issues. I think capacity is getting an issue and I think a slight cooling off would help quality to go up again.