Just a bit of a tip really on getting something out of almost ruined records.
Like a lot, I collect rare records, but sometimes the only available copies are pretty unusable. Often it is dirt and not being well cared for that’s the problem. This tip is for inexpensive and easy archiving which involves basic everyday cleaners. I don’t recommend this on super rare records you paid hundreds for. If you got something you been after for years, but it’s dirty, jumpy and only cost pennies, then this works fine for getting one good recording from it that’s listenable.
This was my cure for retrieving some half decent sound from very poor sounding flexi discs (not that they have the best sound anyway). I cleaned them first using mild detergent and a soft brush to loosen the dirt. I then played them after spraying glass cleaner on them and lightly smearing it all over the record. The glass cleaner (the blue liquid type) cleans non porous glossy surfaces so works well on vinyl. I played the flexi discs a few times wet so the stylus dug out most of the dirt from the grooves until it played all the way through without any more dirt coming out the grooves. I then played them again slightly damp a few times while recording them. The slight damp on them took a lot of the dry crackle and surface noise out of the sound. I also altered the tracking weight a few times as some have creases which meant it had dips and ridges in places. Adjusting the weight minimized some of the bumps, so sounded better. I recorded everything about 6 or 7 times, bit trial and error and kept the best one.
Sure some collectors will say.. Nooo! Don’t play records damp, it’ll ruin them. These were pretty ruined anyway. If you want one good recording as good as you can get, then there’s my tip. If the record is a bit ruined afterwars it doesn’t matter if you got a good last recording from it, especially if it’s hard to find normally and you got it cheap like these were.
Once you got a good recording from the vinyl you can always them pull it on to PC and use other digital cleaning tools to get it nicer. I’ve tried before on some records to go direct to digital, but could never get them that great if the original audio is rubbish. This cleaning and initial recording tip gives you a good starting place to do further cleaning then. They say you can’t polish a turd. My nice sounding flexis hopefully proves the saying wrong :p
Disclaimer. I do not claim to own the copyright of the audio recording. Audio used under fair use for educational purposes only.
