[Scott F.]

All new vinyl needs to be cleaned before first play to remove the mold release compound. And the goal is not to sound "ok" but to sound great with a dead quiet background, which it does. Disagree about clear and colored vinyl as that has not been my experience.

+1 

[dminches]

All new vinyl needs to be cleaned before first play to remove the mold release compound. And the goal is not to sound "ok" but to sound great with a dead quiet background, which it does. Disagree about clear and colored vinyl as that has not been my experience.

Completely agree.  The pressing process leaves residue which needs to be removed.

Black vinyl is colored too.  So it shouldn't be different than another color.  Some claim there is some agent added to the black coloring to reduce noise but I have never seen that confirmed by a pressing plant.

[orthobiz]

I believe there is a graphite lubricating effect of the black material in black vinyl.

Paul

[*Scotty*]

To my knowledge the Carbon Black added to the vinyl does not have any lubricating qualities to speak of. It is not in the form of graphite but is more akin to activated carbon without the surface area that activated carbon has.
Scotty

[orthobiz]

Well, there goes that theory! I better stop promulgating it...

Paul

[vinyl_guy]

I believe there is a graphite lubricating effect of the black material in black vinyl.

Paul

I've never heard that before.

[jimdgoulding]

It's unanimous then.  Clean your record before you play it.  Give it a dry swipe with a carbon fiber brush (that's what I do anyway) or something but that's only after you've thoroughly cleaned it when it first arrived.  And good listening to all.   

[punkzter]

I clean all of my new vinyl with a rcm.

[TenBeers]

I clean all my new records with a rcm before playing but have had some noisy ones get through.  I have a copy of Portishead Third that was extremely noisy so I sent it back and got a new copy.  The new copy is almost as bad as the first.  I hit it with the rcm several times but there are still pops and cracks.  I have found that multiple cleanings with the rcm helps in most cases.