Audio-Technica AT6012 Record Care Kit with Record Care Solution, Brush Pad, Storage Base, and Adhesive Tape

This brush seems to work very well, but I think there is an error in the instructions. It incorrectly says the arrow on the brush should point "in the direction the record is turning," and it shows the record turning the wrong way. The correct instruction would be to hold the brush in the orientation shown (arrow on brush pointing counter-clockwise with respect to the record) and either rotate the record clockwise (as on a running turntable) or hold the record still and move the brush counter-clockwise around the record grooves. The latter method is somewhat tricky to do without your fingers touching the record surface, but is easier on your turntable's motor, especially if the record is very dirty. It is also helpful to gradually rotate the brush so that you begin with the leading edge in contact with the record and end up with the trailing edge (the instructions fail to mention this). The brush seems to work just as well as my old 1970s Discwasher D4 brush, but it is easier to use due to its uniformly rounded surface, lighter weight and easier-to-hold shape. It's also less expensive than buying a vintage D4 brush on ebay. (By all accounts, the newer D4 brushes are to be avoided.) I have not tried the cleaning fluid yet, but judging by the absence of odor it does not have a lot of alcohol like the current Discwasher D4 formula, so I think it's probably a good product. There is some debate about the amount of alcohol that is safe to use, so in recent years I've used a home-made solution of mostly distilled water with only about 5% isopropyl alcohol and the minutest trace of unscented laundry detergent. The AT6012 solution has even less alcohol odor than mine, so it should be safe to use. The ingredients also include another, unidentified "organic solvent," but again there is no detectable odor, so I guess there can't be too much of it, whatever it is. I would definitely recommend this brush, but be aware that the instructions show the record turning the wrong way.

I love buying used records, but often they are coated in dust and other artifacts. This tool is simple to use but very effective in removing that junk. Yes, the inner cap of the bottle is difficult to remove, but I managed it in one try - you have to dig your nail under it and then pull up. Be careful though, it will go flying and you may spill a little liquid. Then drop in liquid on either side of the velvet brush until you have used up one measurement. I found that dropping it in with the same light squeezes you would give an eye-drop bottle helped reduce spillage/overflow. Other reviewers complained about the small amount of cleaning liquid, but there are homemade refill alternatives (distilled water/isopropyl alcohol mixture) that you can find online. You do have to wait to make sure the velvet pad is then damp, but I found rubbing it with the brush cleaner (the blue strip on the storage base) helped to moisturize it faster. You then wipe the record in a counter-clockwise manner. At first, it seemed that I had just mushed the dust into one long pile on the record, but I found out that happened because my brush wasn't damp enough yet. When damp, the brush will pick up dust and you can rub it off with the cleaner. You are left with a beautiful glossy record! I found that I was able to clean at least 3-4 records (haven't tried more yet) with just one measurement of liquid so far, of course cleaning the brush off between uses. In particular one record that was very gritty and dirty I cleaned it and it sounded much, much better. I recommend this product to those who are new to vinyl and want to take care of their records. I'm not sure that it needs to be done very often. Perhaps a non-liquid brush should be purchased to dust off records in the meantime?

This product works very well and I'm quite happy with how clean it gets my records. But the instructions could really use some help. The brush has an arrow on one side that shows the direction the brush is to be moved relative to the record (either by manually moving the brush counterclockwise around a motionless record with the arrow side of the brush on the outside of the record, or by holding the brush steady and letting the record rotate against it). Easy enough, and the picture on the box attempts to show that, with the arrow side of the brush on the outside of the record and a big arrow drawn counterclockwise on the record intending to show the direction of the brush relative to the record. But that arrow on the record can easily be misinterpreted to mean the direction of the record itself, especially since most people will be holding the brush motionless while the record rotates beneath it, and because the text says "Gently wipe the record so that the arrow on the side of the Sonic Broom is pointing in the direction that the record is turning". Clearly the word "opposite" should precede the word "direction". The picture is for the first method (manually moving the brush on a motionless record) while the text is for the second method (holding the brush steady on a rotating record). There should be a separate picture and text for each method. Then there's the deficient method of getting the cleaning solution to the cleaning pad by dripping/squirting a "unit" of solution (4 ml) into two tiny holes in the handle and waiting for the solution to soak through. This wastes a lot of fluid (there are only 60 ml in the entire bottle), it's a pain to do, and having to wait is a real negative. It's a lot easier to simply put 6 or 7 drops of fluid along the brush pad itself near the leading edge (say on the 4th or 5th row of fibers back) and use the butt of the bottle to spread the drops evenly across the brush surface. Last but not least, the handle is too small and flat and it's easy to lose one's grip on it. A bit of experience brings the necessary delicacy of touch, but a sufficiently large or ergonomically shaped handle would make that unnecessary. I like to place the record on its inner sleeve (I use Mobile Fidelity Original Master Sleeves, which are one of the inner sleeves recommended by the Library of Congress) which is in turn sitting on the record cover and move the brush manually rather than have to worry about stretching the drive belt by using it on a rotating turntable. I clean the record in quarters, holding it down with my fingertips on the label, rotating the record by rotating the cover 90 degrees after cleaning each quarter. Once I've gone all the way around the record once or twice, I dry it by going around it again with the trailing portion of the brush. I clean the brush itself by wiping it in the opposite direction of the arrow against a cotton cloth. If I'm wearing a cotton t-shirt or jeans that works too :) I think that gentle pressure works best (otherwise I presume you'd be grinding the dirt into the record), the solution does most of the work, and there should be enough solution on the brush that when the brush is picked up from the record surface it leaves behind a wet streak (which is taken care of in the drying phase). One nice design feature of the brush is that the pad extends all the way up to cover both the leading and trailing edges of the handle so that the record is protected even if the brush is inadvertently tilted too far.

I had been looking for a decent way to easily clean records for a while. The discwasher trough method didn't excite me at all, and was pricey. I actually found one of the old brushes with the oriented fibers in an antique shop, but it was part of a console stereo deal, so I could not buy it separately. Enter this unit. I did not have super high hopes for any modern day brush, but I just cleaned about 70 platters and I could not be happier. Yes, the instructions are horrible, but this is not that difficult. First, you squirt the solution into the two top holes of the brush. Not drops, but actually squirt some in so the pad can get saturated. 1. I found that the little holes in the top work so you can squirt the solution in from the top, but it takes a bit of time for the brush to become really wet enough to clean. The first few minutes will not have the entire brush damp. Wait...The dirt needs the dampness to help stick to the brush, not just push it around the platter, doing more damage. 2. There is a direction arrow on the side of the brush, that is the direction you want it to flow across the record. It is just about wide enough to cover all the grooves in one pass. If you have the platter on a moving turntable, make sure the brush is aimed correctly, into the vinyl as it comes to the brush. In other words, make sure the brush is advancing across the circumference of the record using the arrow as a directional guide. 3. You will find, upon inspection of the brush, that there is a lot of finer dust in the fibers after one or two platters than you might think. This really digs out the dirt. That little blue plastic strip on the holder? That is for scraping off the dust out of the brush. Use it often, not harshly, and you will see the dirt ball up and it then can be removed. This is mandatory, or you will just eventually redeposit the dirt on a different platter! 4. The "magic solution" is nothing more than distilled water and 70% alcohol. After using up the little bottle, buy a small alcohol bottle and a gallon of distilled water, both about $1 each. Enough mix for a lifetime. 5. I went one step further. After cleaning the platter, I found microfiber kitchen towels that were a bit tacky, but not too tacky so it drags on the platter. White ones found at Wa&^%%t. Not in the auto section, where the really tacky ones are kept, but in the kitchen towel area. After cleaning, I lightly rotated the towel around the disc to pull off the excess water. A little back and forth fanning of the platter afterwards holding the edges quickly dried it and I could put it back into the sleeve. One tip: Your old sleeves may contain more debris inside the envelope than you might think. I aggressively took my sleeves and opened them downward, and shook them so some of it at least, came out. Sometimes nothing, sometimes a cloud of dust came out. Sometimes they were so bad I replaced them with new sleeves bought on Amazon. And make sure you have a sleeve inside your album cover. Cardboard is not nice to delicate vinyl grooves. I also started putting plastic outer covers on my albums to keep the covers nice and further help dust from invading. It also makes the record package look very cool. The results to me were rather dramatic. Not only did the music seem brighter, unfortunately also did the permanent scratches on the record. Most of my records were bought used, so others put scuffs and scratches in them. Obviously the brush does not help this matter, but does make the needle ride in the bottom of the groove cleanly and make music, not be busy digging out dirt and try to make music at the same time. But scratches are scratches, so you will hear them cleanly also...Luckily for me there is something nostalgic about a few scratches in a record. I don't mind it at all, and there is just no duplicating the original analog sound that vinyl produces. Your favorite old artist, be it Nat King Cole or Jerry Lee Lewis, vinyl is the best. One of my favorites in my collection is an original Sun recording of Jerry Lee Lewis, doing all his hits. Scratchy, scuffed, and the sound was heavenly after cleaning with this brush! Overall, this is a great brush and I would buy it again. Once you get used to using it, it takes more time to handle the platters and move things around than it does to clean any one side. Beats the pants off the silly wood glue method.

I had one of these 30 years ago when I was in High School. It has not changed a single bit since then. At some point, I lost it, so I replaced it with one of the carbon fiber brushes. There's really no comparison. This works so much better. The instructions are not good, but I've been using these so long, maybe I can help someone by explaining how I use it. First, it is not a deep cleaner. When I buy a used record, I use my spin clean (I'm in the process of building an ultrasonic cleaner, but that's another story), dry it, and then use the AT cleaner to get any fibers from the cloth off the record. Then each and every time I put a record on, I put 3 drops of fluid onto the plastic holder base and shake it gently to spread it out. I then rub the cleaning pad on the base to transfer the fluid. Then with my TT spinning and the tone arm in the up position, I start with the front pointed down, I rotate it slowly until the back is pointing down. Then I rub it quickly several times on the blue cleaner strip that's on the edge of the base to get the dust off. I know the instructions say to put the drops in the holes, but that takes forever, and wastes too much of the fluid. In my book, this is the best brush made to use for pre-play cleanings.

Incredible brush kit the AT6012 Record Care Kit. I have no idea how I went all these decades listening to records without this and using just my vintage rinky-dink 70's era memorex brush. This brush will NOT fix skips from scratches. BUT, the skips I had on about 5-6+ records and counting were cleared from gunk in the grooves that this brush dug out. It's quite remarkable the amount of stuff this digs out of the grooves. Pro tip: don't bother filling the holes on the back of the brush where instructions tell you to insert drops of the cleaning solution and wait 5+ minutes. Instead, just squirt directly along the front perimeter of the brush for deep cleaning. PRO PRO tip: Go to Groovewasher dot com and get the largest bottle of their G2 record cleaning solution and keep a small/medium spray bottle filled with it next to your turntable with this brush, and spray the front of the brush where the arrow points to for a nice easy deep clean of each side. Don't forget to clean your stylus every so often, and possibly change it every several years depending on how much usage it gets. But hands down, I LOVE cleaning my records with this brush combined with the G2 in a spray bottle

This is a review of the AT6012 Record Care Kit, and some instructions on how to use properly use the brush. I received mine yesterday, and so far I have used it on 4 problematic records; three I owned prior to owning a turntable with a dust cover, all victims of clumsiness at one point or another, and one brand new vinyl. The three older records showed a few fingerprints and smudges that were probably made while putting them back in their sleeves, and the new one had small bits of paper all over it from a split seam in the bottom of the inner sleeve. First, the directions on the packaging indicate that you should measure 4 ml. of the cleaning solution — perhaps with a syringe, but this is not included — and distribute it evenly into the two fill ports on top of the brush (cleverly named the "Sonic Broom"). For one, 4 ml of liquid is far too much for a task like this. The packaging claims that the liquid will be channeled from the fill ports and into the fabric only at the leading edge of the brush, but the entire pad is going to end up soaked if you dump 4 milliliters of anything into it. I know this because I actually did measure out 4 ml. of the cleaning solution in a syringe and put 2 ml. into each fill port; so much of the cleaning solution ended up on the record that I had to go over it again with a separate dry cleaning pad just to soak it all up. Unlike other larger cleaning brushes I've owned, there is a minimal amount of "padding" underneath of the outer cleaning cloth on this brush, so the solution isn't going to be soaked into the body of the brush; the plastic handle makes up the bulk of the brush. -------- HOW TO CLEAN YOUR RECORDS with this product: Ideally, the edge of the brush which will first come into contact with your records should be damp, but not completely saturated. The best way to accomplish this is to completely ignore the filling ports on the top and use the tip of the solution bottle to dampen a 1/8"–1/4" wide strip on the leading edge of the brush (indicated by an arrow on the side). You want the majority of the brush pad to remain as dry as possible. Start by making contact with the record using only the damp edge of the brush. If you're cleaning the record while it's on your turntable, be sure to place the record on top of a clean slip mat; you don't want to flip the record to clean the other side and end up with dust and dirt from the slip mat in the grooves of the side you've just cleaned! The packaging states to rotate the record underneath the brush so that it is turning in the direction the arrow on the side/bottom of the brush is pointing. This is opposite of the direction that my previous cleaning brushes have suggested, but it is nevertheless important to make sure you always rotate your records in the direction instructed by the packaging and make sure the brush is always oriented the same way. In theory, this will prevent dirt and dust that has accumulated on the brush pad from becoming dislodged and finding its way into the grooves of the record you're trying to clean. With the damp edge of the cleaning pad in contact with the record, apply light pressure — just enough that the bristles of the fabric can get into the grooves of your record, but not so much pressure that it is difficult to spin the vinyl — and rotate the record BY HAND two or three times. Do not attempt to use your turntable's motor to spin the disc under the brush, because this creates unnecessary stress on the motor and could cause problems down the line. Try to keep the edge of the brush perfectly straight between the center hole of the record and the outer edge. Keep rotating the vinyl, but slowly rock the cleaning pad away from the damp leading edge so that the dry area comes into contact with the record. This should soak up any of the cleaning solution on the record and grab any of the dust or dirt suspended in it. Do this until the record appears as dry as possible, then leave it alone for a few minutes to allow any remaining solution to evaporate. Once the brush has dried, use the rough strip of fabric on the edge of the "storage base" to comb any dust or dirt out of the brush. ...and of course, get a can of air duster to blow out the inner sleeves that you store the records in. Again, this is all pointless if your freshly cleaned vinyl goes back into a sleeve full of dust. -------- For those curious, the bottle states that the cleaning solution is composed of a "catatonic surfectant," an "organic solvent," isopropyl alcohol, and distilled water. No further details are given about the chemicals used or the percentages of each ingredient in the overall solution. ...but how well does it work? My initial impressions are that it works more than well enough for lightly dusty or fingerprinted records. It's important to temper your expectations with this product, though. It's not going to remove every single speck of dirt — especially from very old or heavily used records — but for vinyl that has been treated respectfully and stored properly, this should do a fine job of removing the occasional fingerprint or small bits of dust. One last thing: It's hard to know how much of the cleaning solution gets "left behind" after the cleaning process, but if you're using this to clean and play a large number of records on a stylus you care about, you might also want to invest in a stylus cleaning product.

As a long-time fan of vinyl, this brush seems to work very well. My previous favorite was the Discwasher system from the 70's, but modern versions of that product don't appear to be very good. I've been using this for about 4 months now, and my records have been staying clean & quiet. I don't use the holes for fluid-filling, instead I use the old Discwasher technique: dribble a line of fluid across the leading edge of the brush, when I put that on the record the fluid spreads around; then I gradually rock the brush to bring the dry part into contact, and the fluid on the record is gradually re-absorbed. It takes a good 10 or 20 revolutions to absorb it all. The brush seems to be designed to be held in the left hand (the smaller cavity for your thumb is the leading edge), which works well because the tone arm would be in the way if you used your right hand. It works well dry also for a quick dusting. And as noted by others, the little blue strip on the storage tray is designed to sweep debris from the surface of the brush.