OT: Vinyl records and Mildew

Recently found a collection of Vinyl LP's that had been stored on the floor and all of the cardboard covers have been wet. Lot's of mildew in the cardboard. The plan is to transfer all the sides into ProTools. Do I need to do anything to the records in the way of cleaning? I used to have a sophisticated cleaning system but it's long gone. Any ideas? Thanks in advance. David

If I remember correctly, you can use any degreaser type of cleaning solution, water to rinse and lint free cloths to wash/dry them with. Old cloth diapers and (non-printed) tee-shirts come to mind and maybe add a little bleach to the solution to clean off the mold. Be careful not to get the labels soaked so they peel off, but that would take a bit of soaking, and clean them one at a time and don't stack them all one on top of another like pancakes so you don't scratch them. And that should about do it.

Don't use bleach. Don't use bleach. Don't use bleach. Ok now that I have said that, use Dawn liquid dish detergent. Use slightly warm soapy water, do a few at a time, let them soak for 3-5 minutes, give them a gentle wipe in the soapy water, then dunk them back into the soapy water for about another minute, rinse with ater of a similar temperature.

One more thing allow them to air dry on clean absorbant towels.

I second the high quality detergent method. I have a rather large vinyl collection and this way works best. Just always go with the grain when cleaning and drying if you're impatient. Definately do not use bleach.