How tactile vinyl records make them so appealing to many who enjoy this way of listening to music, however, it is also the exact same thing that makes them a challenge.
When you care for a vinyl record well, it can last a lifetime, however, a record that is not well looked after can easily end up being worthless and won’t be listenable.
Notes On Vinyl Website can tell you more about vinyl records and their needs, however, today, we are going to tell you how you can care for and clean them well.
In order to get the best experience when you listen to vinyl records, consider following these key pointers to best look after the vinyl records in your possession to ensure that they last for many years, and maybe can be passed down to future generations.
Proper Storage Is Key
The first step to looking after your vinyl records properly is to store them correctly. When you are not using your vinyl records they still need to be in pristine condition.
Your records need to be stored vertically at all times, should be kept far away from any extreme temperatures, hot or cold, and need to be kept away from any humidity changes to best prevent them from warping.
Laying records flat is a massive ‘no-go’ as doing so will warp them over the course of time.
You should also note that dirt and dust are your worst enemy as a vinyl record owner, and the best way to fight them is with preventative measures.
This means you need to always keep them in their sleeves, and place them delicately inside their cover. The main aim of this is to minimize the time that any record is exposed to any dirt or airborne dust particles.
Consider Inner & Outer Sleeves
Considering sleeves for vinyl care, records will arrive in paper inner sleeves, but there is no outer sleeve, so there is nothing actually protecting the outer side of the vinyl record.
It is absolutely imperative that records live over the test of time.
It is ideal that you get some basic paper sleeves for quality polyethylene-lined inner sleeves for all of your vinyl records.
How You Handle Your Records
It may seem obvious, but you need to ensure that your records are handled well. If you get any dust or dirt on the vinyl, it will end up as your worst enemy as soon as you find out what it can do. You need to avoid them getting dirty at all in the first place by keeping your dirty fingers off of the vinyl record.
Even with super clean hands, there are natural skin oils that can harm the surfaces of the records. So, you need to avoid touching them with your hands, period. Instead, you need to handle each record very carefully by its edges and its inner label.
Of course, this is much more difficult when you are pulling it out from its protective sleeve. In this case, you need to ensure that your fingertips do not slip onto the beginning sides of each side.
A Good Brush
Once you have taken the record out of its sleeve safely and have it placed onto the turntable, you need to start incorporating a carbon fiber brush as part of your ritual in your day-to-day routine.
There is a lot of debate about how you should be using a carbon fiber brush for your records, but you want to use it at least make sure that you use it just before and just after you play each side.
Turning this into a habit can protect your records from any dust, but it can also help to ensure the longevity of the record and the stylus all at once.
Why Cleaning Is Important
Proper cleaning of your vinyl is so important if you buy your records secondhand, dust, oil, and dirt can all be present on the vinyl, which will result in a bad quality of sound, introducing pops and clicks into the music you really wanted to hear.
A dirty record will also do damage over time to your stylus as well.
A new record will also do better if you clean them before you play them for the first time. Records can easily be contaminated directly from the factory with dirt from manufacturing or with a release agent.
Good cleaning methods can also benefit the audio sound clarity, however, note it won’t restore a record that is damaged.