Author Topic: Cleaning Vinyl?  (Read 284 times)

soukousman

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Cleaning Vinyl?
« on: December 15, 2012, 05:26:22 am »
Does anybody know how I can remove the scratches from the vinyl? I have this Mav Cacharel LP but yet I can't fully enjoy the listening because the scratches skip the record, so can anybody tell me how I can fix this?

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Alli

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Re: Cleaning Vinyl?
« Reply #1 on: December 15, 2012, 10:37:01 am »
My older brother has a very extensive record collection ranging from very old 78's my grandmother owned to later rock Rolling Stones, Beatles etc. He said he went to Future Shop  picked up a record cleaning kit. this may be your best option to go to a store that does specialize in electronics.

Douglas

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Re: Cleaning Vinyl?
« Reply #2 on: December 15, 2012, 12:49:10 pm »
If it is just a dirty record with stuff in the grooves, you might try a product like GruvGlide.  I've never tried this but some people have claimed good results with it.  http://amzn.to/UvYuR5

If the record just has bad scratches that won't let the needle (or stylus) stay in the groove, then cleaning probably isn't going to help.  You can try cranking up the tracking weight to the highest amount allowed by your needle (maybe 3 grams?).  With any higher amount, you risk spoiling your needle.  If this gets you through the spots that skip, record your LP into an audio editing program and make yourself a disc or mp3 so you never have to play the vinyl again. 

I know you've been into vinyl for a long time but now, if you're not already doing so, you might like to take the next step of fixing up your recorded albums in a digital sound editor so they sound the best they can.  I've been doing this for nearly 20 years and it can make your collection sound great and it's kind of a fun challenge to see how close you can restore a song to it's original studio quality (or sometimes better).   

If you have a skip on one place but in another place the same few seconds of music is fine, you can copy the good part and replace the bad part and it can be impossible to hear that there was any problem to begin with.

Good luck on it.

Yovo

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Re: Cleaning Vinyl?
« Reply #3 on: December 16, 2012, 10:47:00 am »
If it's just dirt, I've always had good results using ordinary dish washing soap.
Cracks that make the needle skip a groove can be easily overcome by putting weight on the needle, just a nickel or a quarter can do the job.
This how I usually take care of old and slightly damaged vinyl. I don't really mind cracking noises, so up to now I've never considered taking the next step, as Douglas put it. It's rather time consuming, I imagine. But there are a few LPs in my collection that really need to have something done. So what digital sound editor would you recommend, Douglas? I'm starting to reconsider.

soukousman

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Re: Cleaning Vinyl?
« Reply #4 on: December 17, 2012, 04:53:02 am »
The dust particles usually come if it's not protected properly, I can easily remove with an anti-static brush but don't know where to buy one.
Thanks Douglas, I will probably look into GruvGlide; I also heard a efficient method if you mix distilled water (or vinegar) with Isoproyl alcohol and wetting agent, it not only cleans the different but if you clean away the scratches that causes your LP to jump instead of playing smoothly. This is what I heard and has been the standard for fixing LP's,

Yovo, I heard about putting the nick or quarter on the tonearm but when I did that, it caused the record to jump even more. I like vinyl though, it gives me an reminisce of how great life used to be and the quality of music that it provided.

A good audio editing software I use is Audacity, it's has a variety of options. It shouldn't be that difficult to master.

http://audacity.sourceforge.net/

Douglas

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Re: Cleaning Vinyl?
« Reply #5 on: December 17, 2012, 10:14:33 am »
But there are a few LPs in my collection that really need to have something done. So what digital sound editor would you recommend, Douglas? I'm starting to reconsider.
The Audacity editor that Soukoussman is using is free and works well for editing but I don't think it can do much to reduce noise, click and pops.  If you can find an affordable copy of Adobe Audition version 3, it has great tools for noise reduction and fixing other flaws.  The current version of Audition is version 6 but that's in the $300 range so perhaps not what you want at this time.  Magix.com offers a consumer software program for fixing audio called Audio Cleaning Lab.  It has some excellent (digital) cleaning tools.  This same company produces top end professional Audio editing programs for audio production studios. 
See Audio Cleaning Lab here: http://www.magix.com/us/audio-cleaning-lab/

Both Adobe and Magix allow downloads for demos so you might like to try that first and see how you like it.

Yovo

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Re: Cleaning Vinyl?
« Reply #6 on: December 21, 2012, 08:52:41 am »
Thanks Douglas!
I recently got a used but brandnew looking Lenco L60 turntable (for free!) and it makes a real difference from my old one; it's like listening to my record collection with new ears. With this equipment I could safely start to digitize at least part of it - so somewhere in the near future I will try out one of those demos you suggested.
Come to think of it: one of the benefits of digitizing rare vinyl is that you can share some of your favorite stuff with friends.

Douglas

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Re: Cleaning Vinyl?
« Reply #7 on: December 22, 2012, 01:50:37 am »
Thanks Douglas!
I recently got a used but brandnew looking Lenco L60 turntable (for free!) and it makes a real difference from my old one; it's like listening to my record collection with new ears. With this equipment I could safely start to digitize at least part of it - so somewhere in the near future I will try out one of those demos you suggested.
Come to think of it: one of the benefits of digitizing rare vinyl is that you can share some of your favorite stuff with friends.
The is a very rare and valuable turntable.  Put a good stylus on it and treat it well.