Entering my hipster era
Got a record player for the family for Christmas. My lady and I went out and raided a $2 bin at a local shop. Most of these, the records are in decent condition, but they all need some love.
I know the scratched ones are done, there's nothing bring them back, but how do we clean the remainder? How do we care for them?
My wife gave me a record player for Christmas so interested as well.
Back in the 1970s and 1980s, I'd say the Discwasher D4 system was the one everybody used. 3 drops of solution on the brush, swipe it along the leading edge of the brush, spin the record, apply the brush, rolling from leading to edge to trailing edge thereby "washing" and "drying" the record. Clean before every play. Always handle carefully. A scratched record, or one with lots of pops, is no fun to listen to.
I think the D4 system is still available, although there are numerous imitators, including the Big Fudge:
Yeah, Discwasher is your huckleberry. Get the destatic gun, too, if they still make it.
My parents used to wash them in the sink like dishes.
Having lived through the '70s and '80s, and having 700 or more LPs plus a very nice turntable in the attic, I don't get the current fascination with vinyl.
But have fun!
In reply to Duke :
For me, nostalgia, mainly. Dad used to put on an album during dinner. It was different than a cassette or CD.
But i also exclusively power my boats with one of a dozen and a half outboards from 1948-1964, I'm using a Pentax K-1000 for my daily camera, and generally get my kicks getting old stuff working again. So i might be the wrong person to ask.
Also, lost media is a real problem, for every band or artist that only exists as a greatest hits album on streaming there are dozens more that only exist on the original vinyl.
Ray Charles' cover of Eleanor Rigby isn't on any of the Spotify-curated playlists I've found. But i paid $2 and got an original record from 1968 that had it. I never would have heard it without that record.
I love the modern world, but that doesn't mean it has everything we need
X3 on the Discwasher D4, I still have mine and use it every time I play vinyl. I have a bunch of my albums from "the day" that still sound great after 40 odd years.
Remember, you are never supposed to touch the groves on the face of a record with your fingers because finger oil/grease is the death of a record. You have to pull them out of the sleeve balancing the record between your middle finger under the spindle hole and somewhere on your thumb on the edge. If your not really careful, the record goes flying and lands on who knows what and eventually all of your records are scratched to death. Have a nice day. 
I have made disc washer fluid from a recipe off of the internet. 3 parts of distilled water and 1 part of isopropyl alcohol with a drop of Dawn dish soap to cut the water surface tension in a spray bottle. I used a small paint pad to clean the records which is pretty much the same thing as a disk washer or lint remover. It didn't help the above mentioned scratched records unfortunately.
In reply to VolvoHeretic :
Dudes would yell at me if I did it wrong -
Once you get them good and clean, see if you can rip them to a lossless digital format, that way you'll always have a pristine copy in your pocket even as the original inevitably gets worn out 
In reply to GameboyRMH :
I have https://www.audacityteam.org/ Downloaded on my computer which can remove the pops and scratches but after about 10 years, I have never used it.
If you're new to vinyl and unsure how invested you're going to get into it, I'd suggest just washing with a sponge and some soap in the sink. The labels can get splashed a bit but I can do it while keeping them mostly dry with a little practice. There's lots of tools for this; I'd just suggest going the old fashioned route before buying a bunch of gear you might not have lasting need for yet. The D4 style tool listed by 1988RedT2 is a great place to start. You want a carbon brush as a bare minimum to handle dust.
Just sent myself down this relevant rabbit hole:
https://service.shure.com/s/article/stylus-wear-and-record-wear?language=en_US®ion=en-US
I'm glad I'll never have to worry about that but it's interesting to read 
In reply to GameboyRMH :
After that long read, wondering how to tell when my diamond styles was worn out, wondering if I need to buy a Jewelers Eye Loupe or a microscope to look for worn-outness, they say "As a rule of thumb, a diamond stylus should be replaced after 800 to 1,000 hours of playing time." Forty years later... I'm thinking too bad turntables don't come with a hour meter. Fifty years ago, I bought a middle of the road Technics 1800 manual direct drive turntable and installed the cream of the crop Stanton 681 EEE cartridge with some super duper fancy multi cut stylus (that they don't make anymore.
This is what your needle is trying to follow.
Good website for current info about turntables, stylus and cleaning albums is soundadvicenews.com
I use both vinyl and digital. It just depends on my mood. There is a big bit of nostalgia with putting on a record. It is like driving an analog car. It is not better or worse it is what it is. I happen to enjoy it.
A relatively affordable (and totally GRM DIY) way to clean records well is to get yourself a Vinyl Vac vacuum attachment and build a cleaning rig.
After using a velvet brush and cleaning solution for a while, I picked one of these up and a small, cheap, dedicated wet/dry vac to use with it. Essentially, this kit allows you to soak down the record with cleaning solution and suck up all the gunk within the grooves instead of pushing it around and letting it sit there. I also built a simulated turntable cleaning rig out of a Lazy Susan, some hot glue, some shelf liner, a bolt and wing nut, and a slip mat that randomly came with an Offspring record.
This setup works remarkably well. I think I'm into the whole rig for about $50/60, which is a lot cheaper and way more effective than a lot of similarly priced solutions. The guy at my favorite local record store uses a setup like this, and that was enough endorsement for me!
Basic care: get a good brush, and brush them off before every playing.
Better care: Wet-clean used records before their first playing. Frequently new records benefit from a wet-cleaning as well. Cleaning solution and a cleaning brush or lint-free microfiber cloth work well. A vacuum cleaning system works better.
I've got a Record Doctor VI cleaning kit. It's generally recognized as one of the better values on vacuum systems. Purpose made, built well, easy to use. But saving money over fancier units, because you have to operate it manually. No motor to spin the records or automated timers or anything. Unfortunately, it looks like they are sold out everywhere.
I use Tergiklean cleaning solution. It is a tergitol solution, which is what the Library of Congress uses to clean the records in its collection.
Using a vaccuum cleaner and good solution, I refreshed an old copy of 'A Night at the Opera' that sounded like mud, to one that sounded like new.
Also, not all record sleeves are created equal. I've got good low-static plastic sleeves with rice paper backing that I transfer records into when they have cheap and/or old sleeves.
As to the argument or debate about Vinyl records vs. digital music. It's fun. It just is. It's a different experience. If all you care about is wavy air coming out of speakers, high quality digital is better. Just like a new Camry is objectively a better car than my S2000.
But my records are a collection. They're special. It's fun to collect them like it's fun to collect anything. I enjoy having rare or special pieces in my collection, like my first run copy of 'Physical Graffiti'. Pulling out a record and playing it is a ritual. It's a multi-sensory experience that is visual, tactile, smell, and hearing.
Pulling up an album and deciding what I want to listen to on a streaming service is a chore. Flipping through my record collection and looking at the covers until one catches my eye is fun.
codrus (Forum Supporter) said:
See also: film photography.
When I DJ’d at school (90.5FM is WUOG Athens) we played mostly vinyl–like, maybe 90% of what we sent over the airwaves came from vinyl. The school had its collection, while you could bring your own stuff.
I can’t recall any measures taken to actually clean the records.
If records aren't visibly dusty or covered with fingerprints they're probably okay. I haven't touched my turntable for years but back in the day I would occasionally use D2 cleaning fluid with the supplied brush, but doing it every time the record is played is excessive.
In reply to stuart in mn :
Yeah, you don't need to clean them every time prior to playing them. If you store them right, once they are cleaned, they stay that way for a long time.
I have my cleaning rig for when I bring used records home, especially from flea markets, thrift stores, and antique malls that don't typically clean stuff before putting them out for sale. Those don't hit the turntable unless they are thoroughly cleaned. Clean records mean clean sound and happy equipment!
And to just add to the Vinyl vs CD debate, back in 1976, a Fusion Jazz band recorded what is in my opinion the highest dynamic sound quality Vinyl album ever made. The band was Return to Forever and the album was Romantic Warrior. Both are available from Walcrap online shopping and would probably make for the best A-B comparison test.
For people with lots of bass or a subwoofer, you need to isolate the turntable from the speakers by placing the turntable in a separate room which requires a dedicated Record player pre-pre amp or a separate amp/receiver with a phono output in order to send the signal with the line out power needed to travel more than a dozen feet without.
All of my Stereos have 15 band stereo graphic equalizers to boost the bass that the record companies cut in order to package the grooves on the vinyl.
Disclaimer: I have no idea how good modern record pressings are compared to back in the Vinyl era.
Walmart.com: Return to Forever - Romantic Warrior - Music & Performance - Vinyl
Walmart.com: Return to Forever - Romantic Warrior - Music & Performance - CD Edit: evidently one person didn't like the quality of the CD, might have to find a different souce, like used off of Amazon.
Not sure how many people even know what Fusion music is, check them out on YouTube first to see if it's your cup of tea. YouTube's quality will be far inferior to a real Album or CD.
VolvoHeretic said:Disclaimer: I have no idea how good modern record pressings are compared to back in the Vinyl era.
I suspect that on average they're better. In the 1970s vinyl was the commodity, so there was a lot of incentive to minimize production costs. These days anyone with any sense listens to digital music and vinyl is an "I enjoy the process more than the result" sort of hobby so is a lot less cost-conscious.
codrus (Forum Supporter) said:VolvoHeretic said:Disclaimer: I have no idea how good modern record pressings are compared to back in the Vinyl era.
I suspect that on average they're better. In the 1970s vinyl was the commodity, so there was a lot of incentive to minimize production costs. These days anyone with any sense listens to digital music and vinyl is an "I enjoy the process more than the result" sort of hobby so is a lot less cost-conscious.
As I understand, it's kind of a mixed bag.
Short answer is that 70's pressings tend to be good and so do modern pressings. It is easy to find premium quality pressings these days. The 80's had the worst pressings. During the Loudness Wars of the late 90's, vinyl masters were often better listening quality than CD's, which is where most of the mythology of vinyl being superior comes from.
The technology has improved but because it's niche and sort of died out, there was a lot of knowledge that got lost. There were great engineers like Bob Lundgren who were masters of mastering recordings for vinyl pressing.
Sound reproduction equipment has gotten better. Turntables and styli are better.
Like there is a coveted pressing of Led Zeppelin II. It's known as the "Bob Lundgren Hot Mix". Paige told Lundgren to mix it "hot", with more bass. The result was that it would often skip out of the groove on a lot of the consumer turntables of the day. But if you have the equipment to play it, it was long held as the best mix of that album.
That physical limitation of vinyl is also one of the things that turned out to be a benefit. Digital recordings are capable of much greater dynamic range. Engineers can also push them up so loud that they start clipping and lose that dynamic range. This basically physically couldn't be done with vinyl pressings because pushing them that loud would take up too much surface area (grooves too large = less run time), and could result in stylus jumping.
This is why during the Loudness Wars of the late 90's, people started saying that vinyl is better - because the vinyl masterings frequently maintained dynamic range that the CD versions lost.
Same thing happened with Metallica's 'Death Magnetic'. That everyone hated. But when they put songs in the Rock Band video games, people loved them, because they got remastered and actually had dynamic range.
You'll need to log in to post.
