REWIRE YOURSELF

REWIRE YOURSELF

HOW TO BE CAREFUL WITH YOUR RECORDS

Richard Robinson

I doubt if the record companies care, and most consumers aren’t aware, but the quality and durability of plastic records has as much to do with how they’re handled as how they’re manufactured. If you’ve ever pulled out an often played album only to find it scratchy and noisy when played, you’ve experienced the frustration of having one less record in your collection. “This record’s getting old, I’ll have to get another copy,” is the typical reaction, as if some outside element had destroyed your favorite album.

The fact is that every time you play a record, you destroy it a little bit, mostly through sheer ignorance of the factors that account for a record’s deterioration. And as I said, the record companies aren’t about to put any information about care and handling on the album jacket, sales are bad enough without helping the record buyer to preserve records. But the truth is there are some very simple handling procedures that will double the life and audible quality of your records.

Consider the computer room, where another kind of record is cared for: the environment is kept as dust free as possible, the temperature and humidity are controlled to exact tolerances, and even the thought of static electricity on the loose is unthinkable. These same factors—dust, temperature, humidity, and static electricity—are the villains that will make your plastic records inaudible.

There’s not too much that can be done about temperature and humidity. Of course, records should not be left in direct sunlight or on the radiator or played in the bathroom with the shower running, but then records can live very happily in the temperatures and humidity conditions in which humans exist.

The real culprits are dust and static electricity. And there is a good deal that can be done to prevent these two factors from destroying your records. Dust on a record can mar the surface, producing inaccuracies that result in distortion; static electricity produces clicks and pops which also creates permanent damage. Each can be avoided with proper handling.

The first rule is never to touch the surface of the record. The record finds your fingers greasy and dirty, even if you just washed them. The second ruleis always clean the record of dust before every play, and be sure the needle/stylus is clean too. The third rule is to discharge any static electricity that may 'have built up on the record, again every time you plan to play the record. These three rules will guarantee a longer quieter life for yoUr records.

Now you may be willing to live by these rules, but be in a quandry aslto how you go about complying with them. The answer is in the inexpensive and readily available accessories created to help you preserve your records.

DiscHandler from DiscWasher (about $9) is a new and innovative method of ensuring that finger prints stay on the ends of your fingers and never get near the surface of your records. It is a cleverly constructed clamp that takes hold of the record by the edges—avoiding any contact with the grooved playing surfaces—and lets you manipulate the record out of its sleeve and jacket and onto the turntable. Very cybernetic, and very useful to anyone who realizes what touching a record does to its life expectancy.

Having gotten the record from the jacket to the turntable without damage, the next step is to remove any dust that may have floated by and landed on the record. (Dust is attracted by static electric charged materials, by the way, so even if the dust wasn’t looking to land on the record surface, it may have done so anyway by the attraction of the static charge.)

There are many record cleaning solutions sold, such as Audio Technical TechniClean (about $20, refills about $2) and' Discwasher System II (about $15, refills about $2). The basic idea is a specially made fiber pad and a specially formulated liquid that is poured on the pad, the pad then being wiped over the record surface to remove dust, dirt and grease. These record cleaning fluids with pads are quite easy to manipulate once you get the hang of it, and you can see the results when you’ve finished.

Next comes the discharging of any static electricity that has built up on the record. Some audiophiles feel this is the most serious problem with plastic records, and that static charges can do more to damage a record than any other cause. Be that as it may, it is quite easy to discharge the static build-up with ai unit such as the Zerostat (a registered trademark of Discwasher), which is a gun-shaped mechanism that is held over the record while you pull its trigger. (About $20).

If you’ve ever walked across a carpet floor in your socks in the winter time, then touched a metal object, only to get a slight shock, you know how easy it is to build up a static charge. Plastic records build up the same static charges through handling, placement in their sleeve after use, and, yes, being held in your hands while you walk across a room in your socks in the winter time. The Zerostat and other devices like it will discharge static—be sure to read instructions for use as they can be harmful to your vision if used foolishly.

There are many other products designed to help you preserve and protect your records. None of them are as crucial as those listed above, but each will provide a measure of protection. There are several different turntable mats which discourage static build-ups and hold the record securely to the turntable; there are isolation systems which slip under the turntable to insulate it from external vibrations; there are several different stylus care kits that allow you to keep the stylus clean; there are stabilizers that slip over the disc on the turntable to kill resonances; there are also fluids which put a protective coating on discs to enhance the disc’s ability to resist dust and static build-up.

But the three key safeguards are the avoidance of. heat-humidity, dust, and static charge. For about $50, you can protect your records from these gremlins. The cost is reasonable if you have a large investment in albums. These aids don’t work by themselves, however, and just having them won’t help. It’s necessary to develop an almost religious ritual when preparing a record for play, learning how to use each product effectively. Your friends may think you’re nuts* but your records will last longer, and sound better.