FAQs
Better than new, really? How and why?
Absolutely! As long as your records are not irreversibly damaged, once we remove all organic contaminants from the groove of your records, they will sound better than new.
Can we take a 60-year-old original Blue Note record that has had a world of "experience" and make it absolutely new again? No. Unfortunately we can't reverse groove damage; nobody can. We will remove noise that is caused by organic and inorganic contaminants and improve the sonic presentation of the record. Ultimately, we take the remaining musical life that is left in your copy and make it sound as good as it possibly can sound. You will still hear valuable sonic improvements with fairly rough but still prized records, but to expect them to be free from groove noise crackle is not realistic.
Where "better than new" truly applies is for records that are new or in good condition. When a vinyl record is pressed using heat and high pressure, the soft waxy and oily plasticizer compounds that are added to the base PVC polymer leave a layer on the surface of the record. This layer obscures micro-details of the groove. If you safely remove this soft layer, your stylus will track and modulate in the groove much better (reduced stylus jitter). The groove also contains more musical information in the form of additional details, sharper transients, extended decays, space and definition around all instruments and a more well-defined soundstage. The music is more lifelike, exciting, involving and stimulating.
The improvements in playback is similar to a substantial upgrade in your phono cartridge or phono stage. For record collectors, we typically raise the play grade of an album by one to two steps, which significantly increases the value of your records. All of these benefits are available for $8 per record for Archival 4.0 optimization service.
If I have my records professionally cleaned, how often do I need to re-clean them?
That depends on how much care they receive post cleaning. If you follow our handling recommendations, the records should not need to be professionally cleaned again.
If, over the course of their lives after cleaning, your records encounter situations in which they acquire contamination beyond that which our recommended handling protocol is designed to avoid, they may benefit from re-cleaning. In the vast majority of cases, however, it is one and done.
The one exception is when we release new versions of our processes. Then recleaning a record previously cleaned by PVF will reveal additional benefits. Significant improvements are the qualifier for increasing our version number. For instance, if you have records previously cleaned with UltraDeep 1.0 process, you will hear very noticeable improvements if we re-clean them with our Archival 4.0 process.
What is your recommended record handling protocol?
To prolong your listening pleasure from a Perfect Vinyl Forever optimized record, some basic handling guidelines should be followed.
When handling records, do not touch the playing surface of the record. When carrying your record to record to your turntable, use two fingers on the underside center label and your thumb on the outer edge of the record. When placing the record on the turntable platter, use two hands on the outer edge of the record.
Do not blow dust off the surface of the record! You risk coating your records with saliva vapor and doing more harm than good. Also, don’t talk while carrying your records. Everyone spits a little while talking. Saliva is very viscous and sticky, and filled with organic materials, making it a difficult substance to remove. It will glue dust to the surface of the record, and it contains plenty of nutrients for mold and mildew to grow.
Buy a good carbon fiber record brush and use it every time before you play a record. It does a great job of removing surface dust and draining any static electricity that may have built up while handling the record. Use a light touch as so to not push the dust into the groove.
Return the album promptly to the high quality, anti-static inner sleeve right after playing.
How do I use your services?
There are multiple ways to use our services: local drop off and pick up with our partners or PVF by Mail (from this web site).
1. If you live in southeastern Wisconsin you can drop off your records directly at PFV or at Ultra Fidelis in Wauwatosa. We will contact you when your records are available for pickup.
2. You can contact us through our website for PVF by Mail services. We will send an invoice payable with PayPal. Please see our PVF by Mail article for more information.
Will your process eliminate all pops and clicks on my albums?
Unfortunately, no. Crackle, pops, clicks and other groove noise can be caused by a variety of things: pressing flaws, irreversible damage to the surface of the groove, scratches and embedded organic materials. Our PVF Archival process is the most thorough way to remove all organic and inorganic materials bound to the record surface. So, if the source of a pop or click is caused by organic materials, we will remove the cause of the noise.
How will the sonic presentation of my albums change?
Perception of the sonics of music on recordings is a variable. The three primary contributors are your ability and experience as a listener, the intrinsic qualities of the recording and pressing, and the capability of the playback system. Despite these variables, we have a high degree of confidence that you will experience considerable improvement in sound resulting from our processes. We recommend reviewing our testimonial section to see how our customers describe the sonic benefits of PFV cleaning.
Do I need to clean new albums?
Yes, for two primary reasons: your records will sound noticeably better than uncleaned brand-new records and will last longer.
Our cleaning solution contains “quats”, which is a nickname for “quaternary ammonium cations”. The quats in our cleaning solution provide many benefits to the sound quality and longevity of your records.
When your records have a static charge on the surface of the record it is a negative charge. Quats are positively charged and will neutralize the negative charges. For lasting anti-static properties, quats form a molecular layer on the surface of the record which is hygroscopic, meaning it retains water molecules. Water is a great conductor and prevents static from building up on the surface of the record.
Additionally, quats reduce frictional forces. The molecular layer of long carbon chains and water acts as a terrific stylus lubricant, without the downsides of traditional topical record conditioners which often add various lubricants that leave a film on records.
Every PVF process ultrasonically rinses each record with laboratory grade pure water. There is no residue left on the record unlike many topical record conditioners.
Do you clean records other than 12” vinyl records?
We can clean any 7”, 10” and 12” vinyl record.
We do not clean transcription records or shellac 78 RPM records. These record are very different than vinyl records and are not compatible with our processes.
I'd like to try your services for the first time. However, I don't know which service to choose.
Prior to Archival 4.0 SMF, new records were cleaned with UltraDeep and older records were cleaned with Archival. However, our new Archival 4.0 SMF optimization process provides significant benefits to ALL records. Therefore, we recommend starting with an A16 or A32 PVF by Mail package.
If your records have intrusive surface noise (pops, clicks and crackle), considering adding our Disaster Recovery 2.0 SMF deep soak pre-treatment. This can be added to as few as a single record up to all of the records in your order. After soaking up to 24 hours, your records will be washed with cavitation in our 40 kHz / 80 kHz multi-frequency bath to remove the softened contaminants. The records will then proceed to the Archival 4.0 SMF optimization process.
Can you rescue albums with mold, water damage, paper stuck to the record?
For when bad things happen to good records, we created our Bespoke Services. If your records have been damaged due to flood, fire, improper storage, severe mold growth or other issues, all is not lost. We have a series of manual pre-treatment techniques for removing contaminants bound to albums prior to cleaning with our Archival and Disaster Recovery services. The cost will range between $4 and $12 per record, depending on the time required to prepare the record for cleaning with our Archival service. To take advantage of our Bespoke Service, simply indicate with a Post-It note which records you’d like us to apply our pre-treatment process. Once your order is fully processed, a second invoice will be sent with the additional Bespoke Service charges itemized. We’ve had a very good success rate of making unplayable records safe to play once again.
Please contact us to discuss your Bespoke Service needs.
Can you flatten a warped record?
There are two types of warped records - edge warps and dish warps. Dish warps are when the outside of the album is evenly distorted. When the dish warp record is on a turntable without a record clamp or weight, one side is slightly domed, the other side is slightly dished. These are easy to correct with with our flattening service. We have nearly a 100% success rate.
The more challenging warps to correct are edge warps. This is where a noticeable up-and-down movement of the tonearm occurs in the first few tracks of the album. We can improve edge warps in 80% of the records we’ve flattened to the point where the record can be tracked by most cartridges and tonearms. If the up-and-down edge warp is severe, there may be a slight in-and-out kick in the flattened record. This is because a severe edge warp is caused by an uneven heating of the vinyl, which stretches it. The stretched vinyl isn't shrunk during flattening, rather, it is flattened into an in-and-out kick or curve. The in-and-out movement of the tonearm is much less sonically impactful than the up-and-down movement of the original warp.
The cost for our flattening service is $12 per record. It involves a for a four hour process in our $2000 record flattening machine. If the record is not playable after we flatten it, you will not be charged the flattening fee. All records to be flattened need to be cleaned by one of our processes first. This is to ensure contaminants on the surface are not embedded during the softening and reforming of the record during the flattening process.
Do you have questions that we haven’t addressed? Feel free to contact us. We are happy to answer any questions you may have.