How to Clean a Vinyl Record

Vinyl records need to be cleaned. Either they get dirty from dust or just general grime from being used. The more you play your records the more dirt and oils from your hands will get on them. This will cause your records to skip or jump as well as ruining your needle. If you’ve ever picked up second hand records you’ll most likely want to clean these either because they haven’t been looked after or have been kept in storage for a long time.

You’ll need a record cleaning pad or a carbon fibre record brush and some record cleaning fluid. Don’t use a random cloth as you may just introduce more dirt or fibres to your records. Also don’t use washing up liquid or lighter fluid. Whilst these clean things they may damage your records or cause other problems.

First off, wash your hands or wear plastic leaning gloves. No point cleaning records with dirty hands.

Place your record on the turntable, handling the record by the edges. Wipe the record with your cloth to clean off any dust or large fibres. Then follow the manufacturers instructions to apply the cleaning fluid.

Manually rotate the platter in a clockwise direction whilst pressing the cleaning brush or cloth gently into the grooves. Sweep the cloth or brush up and away to remove the dirt.

Repeat until your record looks as good as new! Make sure you let the record dry out before playing, never wet play a record as this will only damage the needle and record.