Written by Getting started with vinyl is a heady and exciting thing. Every new 12” you buy is an absolute thrill, and that never really goes away; there’s the immediate joy of having a physical thing that represents your love for a band or genre, then there’s the slow-burn warmth of watching your wider collection grow with your tastes.
The annual spectacular that is Record Store Day only fuels this flame, whether it’s rare represses or exclusive new stuff. But, as with all collections, your records need maintenance. And, as with all household trinkets, tchotchkes and artefacts, your record player needs occasional attention. Without this, dust and dirt can make a great thing sound clicky, scratchy and weird – or even damage your hard-won collection.
Listening to vinyl records was never going to be as convenient as digital streaming, and, by virtual of being physical, it can never be as theoretically ‘clean’. You’re a wax-head now – and keeping your turntable and record collection clean is all part of the fun.
Why clean at all?
Keeping anything vinyl-related clean is, effectively, a never-ending and wholly Sisyphean struggle against one main villain: dust. It’s the bane of any vinyl enthusiast’s life, and now it is the bane of your life too; congratulations! Dust is, thankfully, largely harmless. But letting dust accumulate for any length of time can lead to bad results down the line – and even failing to deal with dust in the short term can present serious issues for your records.
Indeed, the biggest reason for which you want to keep your record player clean is, in fact, your records themselves. These plastic discs are notorious dust magnets, and determined to pick up dust from wherever they can, be it in the air or off your record player’s platter.
This dust settles quite happily in your record’s grooves, and is then smushed yet further in by the stylus as your record plays. All the while, your stylus is detecting the dust in the groove, on top of the audio information it’s actually trying to hear; this is the source of most pops, crackles and surface noise when you’re listening to a vinyl record. And it’s not good for your record, or for your stylus.
Meanwhile, with respect to record players, the accumulation of dust can certainly be a threat to regular operation. Automatic turntables can see their mechanisms getting gunked-up and slow; record players with button-operated active electronics can get unresponsive. It’s all bad beans.
Dusting your record player
Thankfully, cleaning your record player, and keeping it clean, is not a difficult task. It’s simply a matter of keeping the dust off where possible, via regular dustings using a cloth or brush. Of course, record players are ungainly things to dust, with lots of irregular surfaces and sticky-out-y bits – some of which are, of course, extremely sensitive and prone to damage.
My personal life-hack for keeping a record player dust-free is to use a fine-bristled brush. It handles irregular surfaces elegantly, and poses far less risk to your stylus and tonearm than a heavy hand wielding a microfibre cloth. If you’re a dab hand, though, a microfibre cloth can work wonders in picking up dust without just redistributing it.
Even clean houses are surprisingly dusty places (and we, surprisingly dusty people). So, this should be a regular endeavour for you, even if you don’t see that much visible dust on your turntable. Most of the work is more or less done for you if your record player has a dust lid pre-installed on it; keep it shut between uses, and you’ll find far less dust to dust overall.
Cleaning the stylus
Your record player’s stylus is the single most delicate aspect of your whole hi-fi, and should always be treated with the appropriate level of care, respect and/or fear. It also loves to accumulate dust, particularly from deep within your records’ grooves.
When cleaning your record player, take care not to bump or knock the cartridge or stylus, as you could bend or even break the cantilever; an expensive mistake, to say the least. Treat it separately, and give it a gentle tickle from beneath with a carbon-fibre stylus brush. You can also get stylus dips (which are not as tasty as they might sound) – little gel-filled pots that clean off your stylus for you. Two or three light dunks, and your stylus is clean as ever.
Deep-cleaning, and removing grime
Turntables aren’t immune to the grossnesses of everyday life, and can accumulate grime in the places we regularly interact with them – especially the tonearm, tonearm lever and buttons or switches, where our fingers are most consistently grabbing at things.
Household sprays or detergents could risk either the finish of your record player or its mechanical or electrical operation, so avoid these altogether. Instead, clean your tonearm and any touch points using localised applications of high-concentration isopropyl alcohol (IPA – not the delicious beverage), spritzed or dabbed on to a microfibre cloth.
For your platter and for any rubber mats provided, you can keep things clean with some distilled water and a mild detergent; legitimately, washing-up liquid is the ideal for this. If you use a felt slipmat (like my charming custom “Sick Sad World” mats at home), a handheld vacuum or even a lint roller can do the trick.
It’s also good practice, once in a blue moon, to lift off the platter assembly altogether and examine what lies beneath. Belt-drive turntables can sometimes grab dust and gunk, even though they’re typically covered over; Most rubber belts are safe to clean with IPA, so use it judiciously when cleaning around under the platter.
Keeping your records clean
Your record player isn’t the only victim of dust and grime; indeed, it isn’t even the main character. What we’ve done is establish good practice to keep things clean, so you can focus on the real protagonist: your records.
When you play a record, it’s customary to give it a cursory wipe with an anti-static brush or velvet pad first, to remove surface dust added from within the sleeve or picked up from the platter. It’s an important step, and one that significantly reduces the potential for pops, clicks and the accrual of gunk on your stylus during play.
I’m afraid to say, though, that cursory wipe-age is most certainly not enough for the sanctity of your dear records. No amount of velvet paddery can completely exorcise your vinyl of caked-in dust and gunk – and the more you play your Record Store Day holy-grail finds, the more your stylus pushes said gunk into the groove.
Dirty grooves are a common reality for second-hand records, of course, but new records aren’t immune. All manner of particulates can get into the grooves from the manufacturing and packaging process, including fibres from paper sleeves. As such, every record in your collection stands to benefit from a deeper, and even slightly extra, form of preparation: vinyl cleaning.
There are many systems and devices out there for proper wet-cleaning of vinyl records, but I think the easiest and most accessible is the Spin Clean. This quintessential manual record-cleaning system is very beginner-friendly, and involved enough to get a majority of the gunk out of your records. Simply assemble it according to the manual, add distilled water into the well and two capfuls of the provided detergent over its cleaning pads and you’re ready. Records are cleaned one at a time, by manually rotating them three times each way; they’re dried using the supplied cloth, and the results speak – or, at least, sound – for themselves.
Vinyl enthusiasts with a little more time on their hands might find more gratifying results from motorised, ultrasonic record cleaning baths, which can clean multiple records at a time and with deeper, safer groove penetration. Others still, with a little more to spend, might find great convenience in automated record-cleaner/vacuum systems, like the Pro-Ject VC-E Mini. But for you, starting out on your vinyl journey and with a preference for spending your hard-earned on more records, the Spin Clean is exactly what you need.
These are the building blocks for an exceedingly tidy life when it comes to your record player and record collection. With these tools at your disposal, you’re in the best possible position to move forward clear of clicks and pure of heart. Your records and your ears will thank you!
