How to Clean Vinyl Records – The Ultimate Guide

The simple answer is, it depends. As mentioned earlier in this article, you should use a carbon fiber record brush (before and after each playback) to help reduce static and dust build-up. If you follow this routine and store your vinyl records correctly in a good quality inner sleeve, then you shouldn’t actually have to wet clean your records very often.

It’s best not to over-clean a vinyl record; simply use your ears. If it sounds dirty and there are pops and clicks, then by all means, give the record a clean. The best approach is to look after your records in such a way that wet cleaning is a rare requirement. Prevention is better than cure. 

The use of alcohol to clean vinyl records is a contentious topic. Some swear by it; others stay well-clear. 
Here’s where we stand: Firstly, you should NEVER use isopropyl alcohol on shellac records as it will dissolve the surface.

But also on modern PVC vinyl, it is thought by many to cause the leaching of plasticizers, making them brittle and subject to excess wear.

Many record cleaners contain some isopropyl alcohol as part of the mix, but as a rule, we recommend steering clear of any fluid that contains a high amount of alcohol. If you can smell alcohol in your record cleaner, chances are, it’s using far too much. Our motto is: why use a sledgehammer to kill a fly.

You can clean old vinyl records in just the same way as new vinyl records (so long as they’re modern PVC and not shellac 78s). Shellac 78s are particularly brittle, so you need to take extra care as they can crack or shatter if you’re not careful. When wet cleaning shellac records, make 100% sure the record cleaning fluid does not contain alcohol (see section above on cleaning vinyl records with alcohol).

If an old record is particularly dirty, you may need to clean it multiple times to get the desired result. You might even find that the first clean makes the record sound worse at first, as the fluid starts to loosen stubborn dirt and grime. In this case, you will almost certainly see gunk start to build on your stylus. If that’s the case, stop the record, clean your stylus (needle), clean it again, and see if this improves the situation. Patience will be rewarded; in some cases, we’re talking about records that are over 50 – 70 years old. 

You may also find that leaving the record cleaning fluid on the surface for longer than the usual time of up to a minute will give the ingredients more time to work.

Lastly, opting for a stronger record cleaning fluid (such as the new G3 Fluid from GrooveWasher) can improve the results when cleaning very dirty, old records. The trade-off when dealing with a stronger fluid is that you will need to perform a second rinse step to ensure no residue is left behind.

This question comes up a lot – almost as though deep cleaning is somehow separate from regular record cleaning. 

The truth is, deep cleaning your records is a matter of patience and trial and error. By deep cleaning your vinyl records, we assume you mean getting them as clean as possible, and so, by definition, achieving a deep clean depends on how dirty the record is. 

Ultrasonic record cleaning is the best way to deep clean vinyl records that have stubborn and entrenched dirt deep in the groove. (See our section in this article covering ultrasonic record cleaning machines).

That said, in many cases, you can deep clean a vinyl record perfectly well with a good record cleaning solution. The only way to check if a record has been “deep cleaned” is to take before and after shots of the record surface using a USB microscope. For some, this might be a step too far, but if you want to really see what’s going on in those microscopic grooves, it’s the only measurable way to tell beyond detailed listening tests.

Our advice is to avoid household cleaning products that were never purpose-made and designed to clean vinyl records.

The ingredients on a bottle of Windex are quite vast, and I cannot fully guarantee their safety for cleaning records. Therefore, we recommend sticking to record cleaning fluids designed by experienced companies who know what they’re doing in a lab.

Tap water should be avoided at all costs – particularly if you live in a hard water area. The reason is that regular tap water contains impurities, such as mineral deposits, which can contaminate and damage records. 

Have you ever tried putting regular tap water in a household iron? Note how quickly hard water can clog up your iron with limescale deposits. Our advice is always to use a purpose-made record cleaning fluid; stick to distilled water if you use it to rinse a record, and avoid household cleaning products such as soap. 

The process involves spreading a solid layer of wood glue over the record surface (avoiding the label). When left to dry overnight, the glue dries clear – picking up dirt and dust deep inside the grooves. The idea is, all the grime is removed when peeling back the glue.

I wouldn’t like to take the risk on a rare or expensive record; what if the glue doesn’t peel off in one piece!? Not to mention the risk of residue contaminating your records and stylus. It’s also very time-consuming, and at one side per night, it would take you a long time to complete your entire collection. Why take the risk when record cleaning solutions are relatively inexpensive?

The wood glue vinyl cleaning method is popular among some collectors, and while it’s ultimately each to their own when it comes to record cleaning methods, it’s not an approach we advocate at Sound Matters.

Don’t! By now, I’m sure you’re sensing a pattern – avoid alternative cleaning methods. With this one, however, it’s particularly important to note that vinegar contains acetic acid, which, if mixed with alcohol later down the line from another record cleaning fluid, could risk melting the record and causing permanent damage.

When dealing with dirty records, your record needle (more accurately known as the stylus) will undoubtedly build up gunk and dust as it tracks the record groove. You’ll want to get these records clean as soon as possible, as playing dirty records will speed up the wear of your stylus and records.

We recommend cleaning your needle/stylus after each record with a stylus cleaning kit. Our preferred record cleaning fluid supplier, GrooveWasher, makes a great stylus cleaning kit. The brush is long and curved, with an ergonomic handle, making it easy to reach under the stylus to clean away any grime or dust safely. 
Simply apply a small amount of cleaning fluid and always pull the brush from back to front so as not to damage the cantilever in the process. For a full guide on how to clean your needle/stylus – check out our full feature and video instructions. 

We get asked this question a lot: can I DIY my own record cleaning solution? As mentioned earlier in the article, we prefer to leave the chemistry to professionals who have the knowledge and background in developing safe and effective record cleaning fluids. 

However, homemade record cleaning solutions are very popular with many collectors, so if you do choose to go down this route, here’s some advice we recommend sticking to:

– Always use distilled water; never use tap water, as it contains impurities that will undoubtedly damage your records.

– De-ionized water is not the same as distilled water. The process of creating de-ionized water does not kill off any bacteria, and therefore, distilled water is much safer for cleaning vinyl records.

– If you choose to add isopropyl alcohol to your mix, keep the quantity to a low level. As mentioned, there is much debate about the safety of alcohol on PVC-based vinyl records, but given the lack of industry consensus on safety, it’s best to stay on the safe side. 1% of your overall cleaning fluid is a good place to start.

– Add a surfactant to your solution to improve the cleaning quality. Surfactants help reduce the surface tension of your cleaning fluid and allow the liquid to penetrate the groove fully. Record grooves exist on a microscopic level, of course, so without a surfactant, your cleaning fluid might only sit on the surface of the record and will not effectively clean deep into the groove. 

While it is perfectly possible to clean records effectively by hand, a record cleaning machine will make light work of cleaning large amounts of records in one sitting.

Record cleaning machines can also improve the effectiveness of your cleaning as vacuum-based machines physically such the fluid from the record surface as opposed to relying on cloth or pad absorption.

In the case of ultrasonic record cleaning machines, these have the added advantage of getting deep into the record groove thanks to the ultrasonic frequencies that create lots of tiny cavitation bubbles, which gently lift dirt and grime deep within the grooves where brushes or cleaning pads might struggle to reach. Learn more about the pros and cons of record cleaning machines vs cleaning by hand, here.

Different record-cleaning cloths or pads suit different requirements. For example, my go-to record cleaning fluid supplier makes three distinctly different cleaning pads:

1 – A Microfiber Cloth Pad. This is a great all-rounder with high absorption, which is perfect for mopping up the cleaning fluid that holds the dust and grime in suspension.

2 – The “Black Magic” Pad. A velvet-like pad with very fine fibers that dig deeper into the groove. Great for adding some “mechanical” cleaning action on very dirty old records either as a pre-clean by hand or with a record cleaning machine.

3 – A Suede Pad. This very soft pad is perfect for giving records a gentle clean on your turntable just before spinning.

If you only buy one cloth, then a standard microfiber cloth is the best all-rounder.