NO MORE Pops Clicks & Static on VINYL RECORDS?

NEVER PUT "TERGIKLEEN" IN THE DEGRITTER!!!! This direct from the folks at Degritter. You were doing it properly at first. Clean the vinyl record with Tergikleen first, Then I rinse with Distilled Water in a garden pressure sprayer, in a bathtub, to remove as much Tergikleen as I can. Then I put it in the Degritter. If the record revolves and has soap foam on it (way, way too much in the video!) it wasn't rinsed well enough in the tub. I do 1 or 2 cycles in Degritter with a light detergent/wetting agent (no foam) then 1 or 2 cycles with the Rinse Only tank of pure Distilled Water. I understand that the Degritter will not remove/break down oil based contaminants (finger prints, NEW vinyl with manufacturing contaminants). Pre washing with Tergikleen (I spin mine in a Spin Clean filled with dist.water/Terg mixed 10 drops per gallon) breaks down the oil based contaminants and cleans the vinyl really well. Then IMMEDIATELY rinse. But however you decide to proceed, PLEASE, Don't Use Tergikleen In Your Degritter!!!!!!!!

How I Stopped Worrying and Learned to Love Vinyl. When you stop worrying about all the imperfections, the true beauty of vinyl comes shining through.

Record cleaning is a rabbit hole - and a very expensive one to fall down, given that the Degritter 2 costs £2500. I've been cleaning vinyl for 45 years now and, at the age of 60, have finally found my ideal solution (literally). After some research I decided to buy 10mls of generic Tergitol. This cost me £5. Then I bought 4 microfibre cloths from Aldi (£1.99). After giving up on trying to get distilled water I just use double filtered and boiled tap water.Each of my 4 cloths has it's dedicated function (Wiping, washing, rinsing and drying). I then play the record, as this is part of the cleaning process, as some residue will be picked up by the stylus, depending on the condition of the record, cleaning the stylus after every 2 or 3 tracks. In all the process takes around 15 minutes per album (plus the playing time). Ok, it's a bit more hands-on than a machine, but not much.The other thing I will mention is the most miraculous of all. Stylus cleaning. Get yourself a Melamine sponge (I use Mr Siga, about £2 in hardware shops, also known in America as Magic Eraser) and gently drop your stylus onto it using the cueing arm. Do not scape it or move it around as this will damage the stylus. Just lift it up and down 2 or 3 times. Then play the record and prepare to be amazed. Of course, like everyone, you will not believe that this will work. No one does until they try it. I certainly didn't. But this little tweak has me using my 40 year old cartridge with it's original stylus (Ortofon ff15e mk2) on an LP12, and wondering why I considered buying a new one. My 45+ year old vinyl now sounds better than it ever has before and all for less than a tenner. Phew....

To maintain the quality of your vinyl records, it's essential to handle your brushes properly. Avoid touching them with your hands, as oils and dirt can transfer to the brush and, subsequently, to your records, affecting their sound quality. When using a static brush, ensure you touch the metal part during application to ensure an effective cleaning process. Before returning your record to its sleeve, use an antistatic device to eliminate any static buildup. I've found this method to be the most effective in reducing static, though I haven't found a record sleeve that completely eliminates it. With these practices, you can better preserve the integrity of your vinyl collection. Best of luck, and enjoy your music! - Robert

for what they charge for vinyl, everything should come in antistatic sleeves and be pristine !! cheap bastards out to maximize profits by bending over the customers !!

I used to buy records back in the day, definitely don’t miss them. I changed over in the early 80s to CD as soon as it came out. I remember popping in my first CD and being shocked and startled when the music started. I had the volume high on my amp and hit play, but didn’t think anything happened, then BAM!! Music started. I was so use to the hiss from vinyl and cassettes. I was shocked how clean and quiet the CDs were, and the sound blew me away. It was so amazing. Never went back to vinyl. I’ll never forget that experience. Still the best way to listen to music for me by far. I still buy CDs.

I have over 5,000 vinyl records and what I use to clean them very successfully is the German product called DISKO ANTISTAT II. I had a catastrophe where they were stored as a friends, (no names - TONY !!😁), ceiling collapsed in their Attic and they didn't know. Plaster dust and rain got into the records, but after getting some of the sleeves that were totally ruined off the records, I've cleaned them up to almost brand spanking new. All except for 23 outta 5.000. My record collection started in 1973. I recommend Disko Antistat II. It comes as a complete kit, trough, holding wheel, It has goat hair bristle brush & comes with sealing tool to protect labels (does 7 inch and 78s equally well too), 12 record drying rack & funnel and loads of filters to reuse the solution that comes with it. You can also buy the solution separately. Got mine from Amazon. Cheers, Clive - Spyda Music Productions 😎

You’re relentless “Pursuit” for improvements with well tested results is one of the many reasons I watch. Credibility through the roof. Watching your new Vinyl journey that started around the same time as mine has been a blast these past years. Great job Terry as always.

Born in 1960 I grew up with vinyl and like most that grew up with it we hated it, most preferred the sound and convenience of tape. It was the greatest day in my audio life when CDs were invented.

I thoroughly enjoyed this video. But I will never understand people spending heaps of money trying to make vinyl sound as perfect as possible. Part of the fun is the clicks and pops... it has always just added to the experience for me. If I need to hear a song in perfect clarity it is surely available online somewhere. Putting on an LP is about watching that record turn and letting the imperfections in the medium create an ambience of its own. But to each their own.

I'll never forget the sight of you cleaning the record while grounded.

I heard a few less ticks after the 2nd cleaning. What I have found is the lined inner sleeves, like the Mofi, actually charge the records with static electricity when they are slid in and out. A brand new record in the anti-static sleeve has such a high static electrical charge that I can hold the inner sleeve by it's bottom corners, with the open side straight down, and the record will NOT fall out. The lined inner sleeves they used to use in the British Decca pressings, to me, were far superior to anything we have now. Using several of the carbon type brushes, including those with metal handles electrically connected to the brushes, like you found, actually charges the records with static electricity. After brushing the records, I use a ZeroStat gun to neutralize the charge. Playing the record creates static electricity from the friction of stylus running through the grooves. When playing the other side of the record, you should zap it with a static-removing device. I use a VPI RCM to wet-clean and vacuum dry the records. As long as the record vacuums no more than 3 revolutions, static electricity is eliminated. Ticks and pops can be eliminated playing through a special device or like when I record to hard drive, as I do with all my records, a computer program will eliminate most of them . One of my pet peeves is the rubbing sound in the quiet or dead grooves of the records. To me, it was very prominent in all your sample. It can be cut back electronically, but then you will also lose some of the sounds you want to hear on the record. I am in the U.S. and it seems that the pressing companies here use a higher quality vinyl mix for premium quality records, compared to what I find in E.U. pressings. I believe that Pallas in Germany uses a vinyl mix as good as used in the U.S. The Optimal Media pressings are some of the noisiest.

This is a brilliant episode Thank you. Crikey albums used to cost £3.50 in Woolworths! I always preferred the early paper sleeves with no plastic liner these stopped static but when the plastic-lined ones came out then static became a big problem. In the 70's records were made of thicker and denser vinyl these records were not affected by static as much as the later thinner albums of the 80's which you could get quite a belt off!

This was a very thorough review! I see no comments on the lead-in groove noise, but I heard only a very subtle improvement. That doesn't convince me to clean a brand new record unless I hear a problem beforehand. I've improved noisy LPs by cleaning them with a 2-step process by hand, so I know it can produce dramatic results. I would recommend an anti-static gun, which costs about 1/4 the price of the battery device Terry was using (it does not need to be used every time a record is played), plus a carbon fiber brush. My gun is still firing after 40 years of use! And yes, I buy more CDs than LPs these days.

Born in ‘55, I grew up with vinyl and used it consistently till CDs came along. But, I’ve held on to my collection, many of which are classics today. I recently decided to buy a new turntable and set up an audio component system in my home office and am enjoying those old records, pops and all, just reliving great memories of the greatest rock music ever made, just the way I heard it back then. Priceless!!!

Thanks for making this video it has most of the reasons I don’t have any interest in buying vinyl all in one video, to sum it up in a one word “inconvenient” 😀

when i look back to my teenage years...life was so much more simplier...buy a record..play the record, repeat...cleaning...never on the radar...stylus...never again on the oh i must get a new one.....move on 40 years...what the hell has happened...OCD about cleaning..paranoid about stylus..great video

I just love the way this topic just keeps going round and round 😂 PS: it’s a shame the ‘Degritter’ doesn’t dry and then play the record: an opportunity missed I recon. PPS: I’m nearly 70 and fortunately managed to move on from actually getting bothered by all this decades ago (I do look after my vinyl). Good thing too, otherwise my age related tinnitus would have me pulling what hair I have left out at the roots. PPPS: the surprises with the sleeve inserts you had might be due to humidity, both when the record is put in, when it is taken out and how much ‘rubbing’ of the plastic on the record as you do both (which includes the pace at which they are removed and put in and if the sleeve is folded over the vinyl as it rubs over the vinyl during removal) - this last just to prove I can do nerdy with vinyl 😅 PPPPS: Static is a physics thing due to rubbing (the electrons, say, are literally rubbed off). Rubbing = static. Some materials (the brush/sleeve/vinyl itself) —> more static per ‘rub’. A really good anti-static removal tool would have the properties of that battery powered hairdryer thingy which ‘neutralises’ the charge. If your brush was metallic (bristles + handle, and yes, I realise the issue) and earthed by a wire like the one round your wrist, that would remove static and would be cheaper (but more cumbersome) that your hairdryer.

Wow... color me extremely impressed. Your enthusiast+ (...pro-thusiast? haha, just came up with that) approach to addressing these issues is a breath of fresh air in a sea of "experts" and "audiophiles" bestowing us with their infallible knowledge. 🙄 It's about time someone with a sense of logic, good ears, and an enjoyable personality breathes some new life into exploring ways of overcoming these difficult to overcome issues that plague serious record listening. You said nobody would want to watch an hour-long video on this subject, but I hit the subscribe button immediately after this was over because I'm certainly looking forward to more of this!

First things first: When a record is stuck in the sleeve due to static, breathe gently into the sleeve a couple of times, and be careful to not cough or spit unto the record or the sleeve. This will remove enough static for you to be able to get the record out with no accidents ocurring to the record (dropping it, grabbing the surface etc.). More humidity = less static. Please be aware that in the 'dry' (=cold) season, lots of humidity can disappear from the air, creating lots of static, and artificial carpets can and will do the same. Woollen carpets is the answer IMO. In this season of the year, house plants unfortunately require less water than they do in the summer. Watering your house plants could mean a difference in the indoors humidity level. Secondly: Plasma (arc) lighters can be just as efficient as antistatic guns, and cost only a fraction. A side note: My old records carry no static worth mentioning, only the recently bought ones. This tells me that I'd never spend money on a Furutech destat III, because with a little time, it's really no longer necessary. A last question: Can a mat carry static? Looks like it, doesn't it? Could be interesting to know which mat materials are the best/worst in that regard.