After The Tone Tips: Your Complete Vinyl Care Guide

Fun fact: Many people who buy an After The Tone audio guestbook for their event decide immediately after listening to their digital voicemails for the first time that they want the recordings on vinyl—and we don’t blame them! There’s something truly special about having your loved ones’ voices live on a classic, forever keepsake. Now, all there’s left to do is make sure you can keep that forever keepsake, well, forever. 🙂

How? It starts and ends with how you care for your record. We got you covered with our ultimate vinyl cleaning and care guide that’ll preserve your vinyl audio guestbook (and your precious memories) for years to come!

Why Taking Care of Your Record is Important

For those of us who lived through the CD era, you remember the horrors of scratching and skipping all too well. A vinyl record is no different, and will only last a lifetime if it’s properly cleaned, stored, and cared for to avoid cracks and scratches. When you provide basic maintenance to your record(s), you help maximize sound quality, shelf life, and most importantly, good times.

How to Make Sure Your Vinyl Lasts Forever

We’ve got a few tricks up our sleeve to set you and your records up for success. While vinyl care doesn’t take much time, it’s crucial if you want to avoid damage or breakage. To make things easy, we’ve divided our basic care guide into four steps, AKA, the 4 S’es

1. Select a quality turntable

No matter how perfectly you store and clean your records, you can be at risk of ruining them if you use a low-quality player. Invest in a high-quality turntable, cartridge, and stylus to keep wear and tear to a minimum, as cheap equipment can damage the grooves and impact sound quality. If you’re curious which turntable brands to invest in, we like the U-Turn Orbit Plus and the Rega Planar 1.

2. Store properly

How you store your vinyl records is key to longevity. Stacking your records vertically in a cool, dry, and dust-free environment can help maintain the quality of the material. Try your best to avoid exposing them to extreme temperatures (especially direct sunlight), as heat can cause records to warp or lose shape. 

Oh, and those inner sleeves the vinyl comes in? They’re there for a reason! The sleeves are constructed of acid-free paper or polyethylene to protect the vinyl from dust and scratches, so always be sure to use them when storing!

3. Scrub regularly

Step aside, Scrub Daddy, there’s a new cleaning expert in the house (Psst: That’s you!). Cleaning your records before and after each use (or every other use) is recommended to maintain optimal sound quality. 

To do so, use a carbon fiber or antistatic brush to remove dust from the vinyl surface. You can also use a record cleaning solution and a microfiber brush for a deeper clean. This prevents skipping and scratching, Plus, it makes your records look all shiny and new, which is a nice lil’ bonus. 🤩

4. Sides are best!

Consider this your “Handle With Care” tip! Whenever you go to pick up your record, be sure to grab it by the sides/edges, using your fingertips to carefully lift and place it on the playing surface or back in its sleeve. Oils from your skin can damage a record, leading to sound quality issues down the road. If you need leverage on the surface of the vinyl, try your best to only touch the label area or use a record handling tool.

That’s it! The 4 S’es. As quick and easy as these actions seem, they’re the key to preserving your favorite audio keepsakes (especially your voicemail guestbook messages😉). Trust us when we say that your records will be thanking you for giving them the TLC they need to live a long, healthy life. Plus, now you can add “Vinyl Care Expert” to your resumé. A win-win!