Cleaning records: the best tips

Old records are not only valuable, but usually also really dirty. We give you some tips on how to clean your vinyls - without damaging them.

Rough cleaning: Free old records from dust

A glossy vinyl not only looks chic, it also sounds a lot better: the fine needle on the record player jumps over every little speck of dust. To prevent this from happening, you can clean the records with simple household means.

• To begin with, you should clean the plate dry with a carbon fiber brush. You can get them in any electronics store. Important: Do not press too hard and it is best to make slow circular movements. This is the best way to get into the grooves of the vinyl.
• Tip: Repeat this step every time you place a new plate. So you usually get rid of the annoying background noise. It is best to place the vinyl on the turntable of the turntable. So you only need to gently hold the brush over the plate to completely clean it.

Like new: How to clean your old vinyls

The "dry cleaning" should already have the largest dust removed from your vinyl. An extra treatment is now waiting for particularly dirty records:

• First you need the right cleaning liquid. To do this, mix two thirds of distilled water with one third of isopropanol alcohol. You can get the latter at any pharmacy. Alternatively, you can use a few drops of detergent. However, this should not contain any skin care substances such as oil or lanolin.
• Now you can either carefully immerse the plates in the liquid or moisten them with a spray bottle on the lathe. With both methods, make sure that the label in the middle of the plate does not get wet.
• Let the mixture work for a few minutes. Then suck up the coarsest liquid with a kitchen towel.
• Last but not least, you should treat the record again with a microfiber cloth. The following also applies here: circular movements in the direction of the grooves.
• To be on the safe side, you can let the vinyl dry in a dish rack for a few hours. Then you should insert the plates in new inner sleeves. You can get them on Amazon, for example.

For large music collections: record washing machines for clean vinyls

Manual cleaning takes a lot of time. A so-called plate washing machine is therefore often worthwhile for large plate collections.

• Here you just put one record after the other. The washing machine does the rest. The results often depend on the price range of the device.
• Decent plate washing machines unfortunately cost a lot of money. The "Okki Nokki" model is available, for example, for just under 400 euros. Professional cleaning machines, on the other hand, can go into the four-digit range.

Now you can either enjoy the clean vinyl with a turntable or digitize it. In this practical tip, we explain how the latter works.