How to Clean Vinyl Records: A Demo with the Pro-Ject VC-S

Why It's So Darn Important to Keep Your Records Clean

Keeping your vinyl records clean is essential to the overall listening experience and care of your records and turntable. To begin with, the groove on a record is half as wide as a human hair. It's easy to clog up and dust and dirt particles are like massive speed bumps. If you do not clean your records, these speed bumps block you from hearing all of the music on the record and have you listening to lots of pops and static instead. 

To make matters worse, the needle can pick up this dust and dirt and transfer it to another record resulting in further contamination. All of these factors produce unwanted wear and tear on your needle and can damage your records. The good news is it's preventable.

One of the best ways to clean your records is using a vacuum record cleaning machine - like the Pro-Ject VCS cleaner. With the supplied cleaning fluid concentrate and soft bristle brush, this machine will keep your records virtually free of debris. Vacuum cleaners do tend to be on the loud side, but we found this Pro-Ject unit to be quieter than most - even with pretty powerful suction. The super fast motor makes cleaning (and drying) faster, allowing you more time to spend actually listening to your records. Plus, the motor is bi-directional, allowing  you to change the direction of the platter to clean the record in both directions. So you're left with a much cleaner finished product.

And don't worry, we're total nerds about the record label, too. A watertight seal from the clamp that holds the records in place ensures that the label avoids any water damage during the cleaning process.

Join the fun with us over on our YouTube channel. Click below to subscribe:

Shop all Turntable Accessories

Shop all turntable accessories