What are reasons to clean (not just remove dust) a new record even if it plays quiet?

I tried cleaning some new records just because I read that you should clean new records, and they went from quiet to crackling. My fault due to how I cleaned them, but I'm wondering why I should've even bothered even though the records were quiet.

 

Dust bad mkay. Air dry and never use a towel to dry them. Distilled water only please. Thanks.

 

New records can have debris or other compound still on their surface which are left over from the presses. So it is considered the best practice to clean even brand new records.

But don't use spray on cleaners. And whatever you clean your records with needs to be removed before playing them. If nothing else, just get yourself a good carbon fiber brush to get the dust and debris out of your new records.

 

I never wash my records, they're only ever touched by a carbon fiber brush. You've found out the hard way that record cleaning is an OCD behavior.

 

i was using an audioquest anti-static brush to remove the dust. then i heard i was supposed to wash the records.

 

Did you wash them as in wash them in the sink with tap water? If so, there's your problem. Get a good record cleaning machine and record cleaning fluid.

 

There are different opinions and experience ls in this topic.

My experience:

Wash your records only if they're dirty and noisy. In this case, use a vacuum record cleaner machine. If they're brand new and noise free they don't need to be cleaned. Quiet records should be left as they are because that is what you want: a quiet surface. If they're dusty, just clean them with a good quality carbon fiber brush in order to protect your stylus from the dust.

 

I've found new records to be staticky more often than not. A wet/vacuum clean gets rid of that in a trice.

 

I never clean new records unless they are noisy. But what mentioned by the poster above me is true.
You can get rid of the static with a good cleaning.

 

How do you know if they are silent, if you haven't played them?

I clean them because there is always something on them. I mostly buy new records. When I drain my RCM, the fluid in the tank is never clear. This is enough reason for me to clean them. I'd rather have them in new clean sleeves, as well. And I'm not putting a questionably clean record in a clean sleeve. The other thing is that I bought an Okki Nokki to replace a Record Doctor. The Okki Nokki is less of a bother to use. An even with the RD, I've found it beneficial to clean all records, the ON makes this task much less of chore.

 

This. - I only clean used records that are dirty (finger prints mostly,) - I have yet to encounter a new record that has issues from pressing plant "residuals". If a record looks clean, play it and keep the dust off. That's all.

 

Right.

 

I don't bother with wet cleaning new records or records that aren't particularly dirty. I just lift dust with dry cleaning or a blow of air. I think it's true what @vinylontubes says, that whenever you wet clean the records there's some kind of dirty you're going to lift, even when they're new. But if there's no audible noise, a wet cleaning isn't really necessary and doesn't necessarily produce audible benefits (and in fact, getting your records squeaky clean will increase stylus-groove friction). If you are using a fluid with an anti-static agent tough, it pretty much always will eliminate a static charge, so that's a benefit to wet cleaning a new record and that can be very helpful with very staticy records, especially if you don't have a Zerostat or something.

However, whatever you did to your records when you tried to wet clean them, you obviously did not effectively clean them, so I don't think that's a good test case. What ever you did involved some kind of failure in your method.

I have found that when records are noisy and "crackly" after a wet cleaning, it almost inevitably is because whatever fluid was used to do the wet cleaning was not sufficiently removed from the record surface.

The records will need another cleaning and probably multiple rinses with distilled or water that's even more pure and a vacuum drying, and you might need to do that again and again to remove whatever is on there. It also might require multiple plays to let the stylus dig residue out of the grooves before they're quiet again (cleaning the stylus along the way of course).

I have found that there are record cleaning fluids which at any dilution I have not been able to successfully remove from grooves without multiple rinses (even though other people don't seem to have the same problems). I'm not sure what fluid you used, how much of it you used, or what you did to rinse and remove the fluid. My preference is for an alcohol-based solution. I find these are more likely to leave no audible trace than other fluids -- 5-15% 99% alcohol, a couple of drops of a dye and perfume-free surfactant (like Triton X or tergitol -- just enough for the fluid to spread, not enough for it to foam), and distilled water.

Of course there's also the possibility that whatever brush or applicator was used to apply the fluid, or whatever was physically was used to dry the records you're having problems with damaged the records. What exactly did you did when you cleaned these records -- what cleaning fluid did you use, how did you apply the fluid, how did you remove it, did you rinse, with at least distilled water?

 

I have yet to buy new vinyl that did not benefit from a cleaning before playing even if it was to remove a stray pop or two.

IMO, but if your new vinyl is more noisy after cleaning you are doing something wrong in your cleaning process.

 

For me, I rarely wet clean a new record unless it looks dirty or is from a less than reliable plant like United.

I have done in the past and don’t believe you get any significant gain from doing so. Usually, if i a record is noisy, it is more to do with the quality of the vinyl itself....

Of course, I always use a carbon fibre brush. I will always clean records that need cleaning or those that are noisy. Most of my records are really quiet and have little surface noise.

 

If it ain't broke......

 

i used "Boundless" brand cleaning solution and the included cloth.

 

after cleaning the affected records with a VPI machine, the crackling has improved. also, my stylus picked up residue while playing them

 

The reason is pretty straight forward, there is stuff on the record that can be cleaned off. Back when the Beatles Mono box first came out I was cleaning with a Spin Clean and in a new tank of water and solution, there was quite a bit a black grit that fell to the bottom of the tank. It is hard to rationalized a benefit to playback from that grit remaining on the LP's.

With that said, this conversion is doomed. Nearly everyone has a different cleaning process and everyone has different equipment and ears. These variables make all the difference in the world making a universal conclusion impossible. The right answer is to simply do whatever sounds best to you. If when YOU clean YOUR records they sound worse, stop cleaning them. If something sounds bad, try cleaning it. It is a topic that is very easy to over think.

 

I always wet clean new records in my Audiodesk to get rid of any unwanted debris and release compounds. I don't know if it helps but it can't hurt.

 

I clean everything now, new and used, because, I bought a RCM and my uber expensive cartridge appreciate it.

 

I don't know anything about that kit, though just taking a quick glance now it looks like an alcohol-free formula. As I mentioned, I know a lot of people hate using alcohol based solutions (and of course you can't use 'em on shellac 78s or else!), but I've struggled to remove residue from alcohol-free solutions. I'd suggest taking a pass or two at the same records with an alcohol based solution to try to help remove whatever's deposited. I'd also do some rinses with distilled or even more pure water. I also don't know about the cloth in that kit. You might need more passes with a vacuum machine with those other washes and rinses to pull the stuff out of the grooves, and also some more plays to dig the stuff out (make sure you're cleaning the stylus of course after it pulls the gunk out). In terms brush only wet cleaning -- without any kind of vacuum drying -- while I haven't tried everything out there, my best results have come with the Allsop Orbitrac -- I use one pad for wet (I damp the leading edge of the pad with an alcohol based record cleaning solution), and the other pad for dry, then use a carbon fiber or similar brush to remove any lint from the drying pad, and to me it seems to work almost as well as a vacuum machine cleaning for new or moderately dirty records. My experience is also bad using spray bottles and spraying a mist of cleaning fluid on to records, in terms of residual spottiness and residue. Better to damp an applicator, or even stream the fluid on to the record and spread it with an applicator, than use a pump bottle that does a misty spray.

 

Yup, sounds like your first cleaning left gunk behind that needs to be cleaned and removed by further washing, rinsing and vacuuming. Playing a couple of times will also dig more gunk out probably, but the more you can pull out without playing, obviously the less you will have to worry about cleaning the gunk off stylus.

 

Point 1 - I don't clean new records unless they need it. One play and you'll know.

Point 2 - Whoever guided you on how to clean records that landed you in a mess on good sounding records lead you astray. Don't listen to that person on these matters is my suggestion. I've never had a cleaning make a record sound worse, that is an odd one. From a quality clean in your sink (lowest tech/cost) to the finest (ultrasonic, best cleaning solution and a vac dry), none of them will make a record sound worse imo, if done correctly. There are a number of effective cleaning methods, you'll have to pick one for the future for when you actually need it, assuming you don't quit on us!