Do you clean new vinyl before first playback?

I’m not trolling, but you seem to be. Big Blue was stating falsehoods.

 

Intellectually speaking, there is no argument against cleaning a record. But practically speaking, I have a hard time wanting to do it anymore.

I’m at a point where I’m very happy with the way records sound on my system. When that was less the case, I was nearly OCD about cleaning. These days if I don’t hear a problem, there isn’t one. Meaning, if it plays without any noise or defect, I’m good to just sit and listen to a record. Cleaning based on principle alone is just time I’m deducting from listening to music.

I would challenge anyone to go nuts and just play a new record without cleaning it, then clean it and tell
me you can absolutely hear an improvement. I’m not saying that can’t be the case but it is really a very rare exception.

 

I listen to music while I clean. No time deducted at all. I don’t really understand the “rather spend my time enjoying music” argument against cleaning. I’d rather the time I spend enjoying music isn’t filled with irritating noise that would have taken me a minute to eliminate. It’s not about some overall sonic improvement, it’s about acute noise when the stylus hits a piece of debris, and not making that permanent by pushing the debris into the groove. Surely that’s worth at least a quick spray-and-wipe clean?

I have played plenty of new records without cleaning first, and a lot of them had ticks and cracks, so I started cleaning every new record. Problem solved. I really don’t know how you are getting so many new records that play noiselessly without cleaning first, but you’re lucky.

 

My cleaning machine is on a workbench, makes some amount of noise and not set up in the listening position in front of and between my speakers. Playing records while not facing speakers and playing music over the noise of a vacuum motor is what I would call background rather than listening. I’ve got a microline stylus that is somewhat forgiving, when I was running a 2m Black I was much more focused on cleaning, the pop and clicks you speak of were more common but far from automatic.

I’m far from tolerant of surface noise but I don’t let a pop on a lead in groove ruin my good time. I'm not trying to be a proponent of dirty records or one of these nut jobs that says noise is romantic or in some way an improvement. I am saying new records are pretty clean. After all they have never been played or exposed to elements beyond the manufacturing facility. The opportunity for something that can and needs be cleaned off with a detergent and rinse to get on the record from the press to the sleeve is fairly limited.

In your case, if you can hear it and clean it away, perfect. But when it comes to cleaning records, it can be easy to get weird about it. I know some people say they find cleaning records to be relaxing, enjoyable and provides a sense of accomplishment. I think that is a clear sign of OCD and big part of any conversation on this forum about cleaning records. Less about the practical need and more about compulsion or just generally bragging about how awesome they are at records.

 

Some people are woefully inept at multi tasking.

 

Or some people have a lot invested in their cart and don't want to burn hours on it while cleaning records in another room.

 

Fair enough, and it sounds like you just have a much better cleaning system than I do, necessitating the separate room and noise. And, yes, I’m out of the sweet spot while I’m running records through my Spin Clean, but that’s still an enjoyable time for me. I cue up a record, pour myself a beer or a cup of coffee, depending on the time of day, and go to town on whatever needs cleaning. It’s not OCD, I just make it like a little party for myself. The results are worth it. With a vacuum system, though, I’m sure it becomes harder to listen to anything at the same time.

I have found the exposure to elements within the manufacturing facility to be enough to warrant cleaning, at least on a large enough percentage of new records to just go ahead and clean them all. Believe me, I would love for new records to come ready to play immediately, and they should, but a lot of them just don’t, IME. I like to think of it as “dilligence” and not OCD...

 

Just took this out of the shrink and it sounds great. There was a little dust from the sleeve and the scuffs from ham handed packaging but nothing I can hear.

I never thought of cleaning records before joining this forum and without question it is essential. But from reading all these record cleaning threads it’s easy to get carried away. I was completely bought into the policy of nothing goes on the table that hasn’t been cleaned. I felt those that didn’t were knuckle dragging mouth breathers. Then one day the “to clean pile” became a serious project. I travel for work and come home on a Friday with a pile of records I’m excited to listen to. Putting them In the pile felt like much less fun so I threw caution to the wind. Turns out, it’s fine.

It’s all a process. I was a spin clean beer drinker for a long time and did enjoy it at one point. The wet microfiber rags, dirty cleaning water and need to rinse drove me to an RCM and that really does cut the time and improve results tremendously. I then wore out a couple wands on my RCM cleaning each and every record before I played it.

Now I just use as needed. I’m just putting this out there as my experience. Cleaning based on some absolutel theoretical policy like “all new records must be cleaned” is all principal and not practical. I will fully admit a LOMC with a micro line stylus has a big impact on my thinking. A high output nude Shibata can be a very divergent situation.

 

Yeah I do clean new LPs. Just bought The Wall and A BeachBoys, both new. Both had bits of stuff all over the LPs. They both sound great, but both absolutely needed cleaning.

 

I cleaned a new record (Gaucho) a couple of evenings ago , it's the first one in maybe over a dozen or so new records that have needed it , excluding the Dylan rsd catastrophe.
I used to clean new records even before I'd played them , it wasn't a bad regime to follow , but I don't bother any more , un less they're noisey or grubby .

The old cleaning solution that has been used on new records always develops a layer of dark sediment forming in the bottom of the storage container.

 

I agree about the clean up pile.
At one point there were 20 records to clean and I would put it off for months.

 

I actually like the process, it really a nice break and takes only 5 minutes per record to clean and then may be 10 minutes to dry (after RCM record still a bit wet, and better to wait a little). It's like caring for a pet )).
I enjoying the process of putting them in nice MoFi inner sleeves instead of horrible paper ones 90% of new records are selling, and BTW difference of a clean record and a dirty one going into inner can be felt very easy.
I do not always even listening to this record that day, sometimes I am in a mood for different music.
But I do have a lot of time in my hands, I almost retired.

 

I have cleaned the record with spin clean and as seen it is no difference between before and after cleaning.
So it was not some kind of dirt. So it may be non fill. Bot non fill is happening closer to the outer edge. But this is close to the lead out.
And I have played it without hearing any issues.
I thought that it may be interesting to know that it was not dirt/junk anyway.

Before cleaning below:


Below after cleaning:

 

I personally would at least listen first.

 

If your cleaner is 100% silent than ok. If not ......

 

I have had the opposite experience than you in that just about every new LP I have ever purchased since I got back into vinyl had some degree of surface noise, pops and clicks, on first playing and required cleaning.

The worst was a reissue copy of King Crimson LTIA which had so many pops and clicks right out of the sleeve I stopped listening after the first song. I cleaned it the next day and it is virtually silent now.

I no longer play new vinyl without cleaning so maybe I get some that are quiet but from experience, it is not worth the risk of grinding the leftover Mfg process gunk into the grooves so I just wait until I can do a cleaning on the weekends when the family is out of the house.

 

I clean every record that comes in the door unless it comes from somebody I know whose cleaning methods are known to me and they verify that they have cleaned the record. I buy mostly older records, from the late '60s and early -mid '70s, so the reason for such cleaning is obvious. But I clean even new 'out of the shrink' records for several reasons: minimize noise, and prolong stylus life as well as avoid embedding something into the groove.
Some stuff is visible to the naked eye, some isn't.
The question of how involved or time consuming it is varies, depending on need: often, for a brand new record (a much smaller percentage of my purchases overall), I'll just pop it into the ultrasonic cleaner. For every used record and some new records, it gets cleaned first using one or another fluids depending on my guesstimate of how much attention it needs, vacuumed with an RCM (a Monks, but I used a standard VPI 16.5 for decades that worked just fine) and a pure water rinse step.
I'll combine methods and do the fluid clean/vacuum RCM and ultrasonic on virtually every used record. If my cleaning doesn't yield a quiet record, there is either a need for more intensive cleaning (repeated cleaning is sometimes necessary and cross method cleaning -using both fluid/vacuum and ultrasonic often improves things). Sometimes, a record is a lost cause- defective, abused whatever. What I learned by spending time, money and effort on this is some noise that we attribute to the LP is contaminants that can be removed; however, in some cases, it's just an inherently noisy record or one played on a kludgey tonearm/bad stylus that has done damage or was otherwise mishandled, abused or badly made.
Cleaning is work, but I don't make it a big deal- I do it in batches and can bang through a fair number of records at a decent clip with both machines (the Monks and the ultrasonic machine) running.
I'm not a big fan of dry brushing, since I think it creates more problems than it solves.
Static can be an issue.
Inner sleeves can shed.
And some new records come out of the sleeve with nasties.
I think you find a place you are comfortable with in terms of time, effort and expense and enjoy it. I do think you can, with various low cost vacuum RCMs and DIY ultrasonic, achieve a high level of cleaning at relatively low cost. But, I won't proselytize-- much is in method and doing no harm. A bad cleaning is worse than not cleaning.
There are records I cleaned more than 30 years ago on the VPI with who knows what fluid (I simply don't remember) and put into a VRP Discwasher sleeve at the time. I can pull one of those out today and play it without doing anything further.
My thinking is, once I get it clean, I'm done, except for surface contaminants that land on the record during handling, play or from inner sleeve shed. In most cases, a Giotto's Rocket Blaster will do the trick. I have a wide range of brushes, fluids, etc here and have simplified my methods to a point where I don't want to waste time or effort when I don't have to; and, I like to minimize the amount of contact the record has with brushes and washes and drying (whether vacuum, forced air or 'free air' drying).
If you don't have issues, none of this is relevant. If you do, then the question becomes one of how much time, money and effort you want to devote to the process. I have concluded that more of this is method than fancy machinery. And a decent inner sleeve, good handling techniques, minimization of static and clean environment in which the record is played (the last being a Sisyphean task).

 

I’m glad you mentioned this. This often comes up in these threads and there is no evidence to susport it as fact. I’ve not been to every pressing plant but I have been to one and the manufacturing process is fairly simple. There isn’t a step where they add something to a pressed record that needs to be washed off. I’ve read people say something about an anti fungal chemical or something to make it shiny but that’s pretty far fetched. It’s just wax that is pressed between two stampers with a label. Some excess around the out side of the stamper might need to be removed but other than that it just goes through packaging. The only thing that can be added to the lp is a fingerprint if they aren’t wearing gloves, paper dust from the sleeve and scuffs from the insertion into the sleeve. That’s kind of stuff really doesn’t get down in a microscopic groove to cause noise. It’s the kind of stuff that get pushed out of the way as the stylus rides in the groove.

I’ll take you at your word, if you hear it, that’s all that matters. I do think idea that there is residue from the manufacturing process is internet nonsense. As is the idea all new records need to be cleaned.

 

Evidence.

Explanation of how vinyl records are made/pressed - The Last Factory

 

I never claimed I knew what the contaminants were on the new vinyl I purchased only that they all had pops and clicks on first playing right out of the sleeve. Some were worse than others but they all had noise to some extent so it not what I think I hear but rather it is noise that anyone would hear.

A run through the Spin Clean followed by a second on the Record Doctor makes the new LP virtually silent. No more pops and clicks.

When I only had the Spin Clean I would run a batch of only new vinyl through it and there was always some visible junk floating in the water afterwards. Not a lot but still visible. Seeing and hearing is believing. YMMV

 

This is well written and detailed but I’m not so sure it supports the need to clean a new record. As I read it there is a release agent in the pellets and more of that could be sprayed by the press operator if the lp is having an issue separating from the the press. Coming to the conclusion that the release agent is at all audible or detrimental to a stylus is an assumption.

Also, this is a web site that is selling cleaning and preservative products, stuff to apply to the surface of the record to prevent wear. That is hardly a universally accepted best practice. I hate to be endlessly cynical but they do have a horse in the race and I doubt they would present information that would discourage purchasing their products.

I’m really not trying to talk anyone out of cleaning their records. My current position is to do so as neeeded. For the last two years I just play them and very few make it to the RCM. And as a point of reference I buy new records nearly every week. Factory fresh is a mint record.

 

I've recently switched to not cleaning new records by default as well. I think cleaning is important and RCMs are a must, but I only clean as needed.

Record cleaning threads get weird to me quickly as you find people describing a cleaning regime that seems to assume they just ate a half rack of spare ribs off of the record. Yes, we've all come across filthy records that we've made good as new, but I think people begin to see it as a ritual by which every record with a spec or two of dust gets cleaned like a crusty thrift store find.

 

I will agree some people’s regimes seem crazy. It seems to me most recrods only need something as simple as fluid on, agitate, get the fluid off. I don’t even buy that a rinse is necessary if you are vacuuming the fluid off.

 

If nothing else, pretty much all the new records I get in have a ton of static electricity and a wet cleaning takes care of that

 

Indeed, most of new records I get have huge amounts of static, to a point I have difficult time removing them from sleeves! And RCM helps a lot.
And when I switched from Okki-Nokki to Pro-ject VC-S (and L'Art du Son cleaning) it became even more profound, to a point I have hardly hear ANY static on cleaned record. I suspect (unscientifically) that metal VC-S wand helps draining static using my big (too big probably) body as ground from record better then plastic one.