Many people have come to associate the pops and crackles heard on vinyl LP’s as an inevitable part of a record’s aging process - the more it’s played, the more scratches and pockmarks it develops. According to Australian inventor Cary Stoddard, however, most of those noises are actually due to minute particles of things like mould, dust, oils, skin, and smoke that have become embedded in the grooves. While conventional record brushes can’t remove them, he claims that his product can, potentially restoring your records to near-pristine condition.
According to Stoddard, when a record is playing, the friction of the stylus generates just enough heat to make the vinyl sticky. Particles then get stuck to it, and remain in place once it’s cooled. Record Revirginizer is a non-toxic polymer goop that you spread across the playing surface of your vinyl records. You let it set, attach one of the pull tabs, then peel it all off in one rubbery piece. As it comes off, the noisy little particles come with it, while all of the vinyl stays behind.
In some cases, he claims, it can even remove residue from the record-pressing process, thus resulting in better than new sound quality.
One 500ml bottle of Record Revirginizer can treat up to 16 double-sided 12-inch LP’s, and is available for AUD59.95 (about $US54.77) online.
