Re: [ARSCLIST] Record cleaning fluid recommendations?

[John Ross <johnross@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

Has anybody actually done any systematic research about the relative
effectiveness of various commercial and home-brew record cleaning mixtures?
It seems as if all of the suggestions posted to this thread have been
anecdotal reports based on relatively limited experience.

I understand that many on this list have extensive experience cleaning and
preserving sounds from LPs and other media. I don't intend to belittle this
expertise. But it's entirely possible that more than one mixture will
produce equally effective results, within the requirement that they do not
do any damage to the media.  Seems like most people will stop experimenting
after they find a product that appears to meet their needs.

And it's also possible that some common methods are in fact potentially
destructive. Or that the difference between different mixtures might be
below the noise threshold of many playback chains.

I would like to see a study that compares the subjective and/or measured
reduction in surface noise after treatment with different mixtures, and
using different techniques. Of course, it's true that every LP has a
different amount and type of crud in its grooves before cleaning, so the
starting point will be somewhat different on each one, but using a
reasonable sampling of records from collections and thrift stores ought to
produce some kind of useful averages.

Does anything like this exist in print or online? If not, would it be
productive to organize some formal standards for testing?

John Ross
Northwest Folklife
Seattle




At 11:09 AM 12-15-2003 -0600, you wrote:
> With all due respect, you're recommending products based upon price rather
> than the quality of the cleaning.  I'm confident that a superior & safer
> level of cleaning is available at a reasonable price & its unfortunate that
> you have not had an opportunity to hear the results of using these materials.