My take- based on your description is that your "cleaning" is actually leaving something on the record. Probably residue from the cleaning fluid, mixed with whatever you might have dredged up out of the grooves in the process of using brushes and fluids.
It sounds like you are using two machines? A Clearaudio machine and the Spin Clean? Or is your reference to "Clearaudio Smart Matrix cleaner" just a fluid (and you are relying solely on the Spin Clean)?
The key, in my estimation, is to do no harm. All things that contact the record- whether applicators, brushes, pads or lips on vacuum parts in contact with the record surface, including any RCM "platter"--have to be kept scrupulously clean, not only before and after a cleaning session, but during it.
Vacuum machines-- if you indeed have one-- particularly those of the "wand" type, can introduce static in the process of "drying." Ditto hand drying a record with a cloth.
The concept, in general, is to apply a cleaning fluid, let it do its work, and then get it off the record. I will prepare a record using a bulb type "puffer" to blow surface dust off- those can be gotten cheaply- (I like the big Giottos Rocket Blaster but there are a variety of these things used for cleaning camera lenses); if the record has obvious surface stuff on it, I do a pre-clean using a very mild fluid without any sort of agitation or scrubbing- I don't want to grind any particles into the record surface. I'll vacuum that off, and if the record needs more intensive cleaning, will use an enzyme type fluid, e.g. AIVS No. 15, agitate and soak.
One step that is absolutely necessary in my estimation is to do a rinse step using some grade of "pure" water after the fluid cleaning and vacuum step. (How pure depends on your degree of compulsiveness, pocket book and access to various types of water). This helps remove cleaning fluid residue- it is often a dried fluid residue with suspended contaminants in the mix that makes a "cleaned" record worse.
Everybody has their favorite fluids, machines, methods and steps. I'm pretty agnostic- I've tried many, not all of them, and much comes down to basic good practices of the type I outlined. I have brought many old used records back from the dead- from unplayably noisy to a high state of play-just based on good practices. I do think some sort of vacuum machine is an essential part of the process. (I use both vacuum RCM and ultrasonic since I find the different methods to be complementary). But, I can get an old "bin find" record very clean and in a high state of play using a basic RCM, like a VPI. You don't have to spend a huge amount of money to get really good results, since much of it, as indicated, has to do with method, rather than the RCM gear itself.
It sounds like you are using two machines? A Clearaudio machine and the Spin Clean? Or is your reference to "Clearaudio Smart Matrix cleaner" just a fluid (and you are relying solely on the Spin Clean)?
The key, in my estimation, is to do no harm. All things that contact the record- whether applicators, brushes, pads or lips on vacuum parts in contact with the record surface, including any RCM "platter"--have to be kept scrupulously clean, not only before and after a cleaning session, but during it.
Vacuum machines-- if you indeed have one-- particularly those of the "wand" type, can introduce static in the process of "drying." Ditto hand drying a record with a cloth.
The concept, in general, is to apply a cleaning fluid, let it do its work, and then get it off the record. I will prepare a record using a bulb type "puffer" to blow surface dust off- those can be gotten cheaply- (I like the big Giottos Rocket Blaster but there are a variety of these things used for cleaning camera lenses); if the record has obvious surface stuff on it, I do a pre-clean using a very mild fluid without any sort of agitation or scrubbing- I don't want to grind any particles into the record surface. I'll vacuum that off, and if the record needs more intensive cleaning, will use an enzyme type fluid, e.g. AIVS No. 15, agitate and soak.
One step that is absolutely necessary in my estimation is to do a rinse step using some grade of "pure" water after the fluid cleaning and vacuum step. (How pure depends on your degree of compulsiveness, pocket book and access to various types of water). This helps remove cleaning fluid residue- it is often a dried fluid residue with suspended contaminants in the mix that makes a "cleaned" record worse.
Everybody has their favorite fluids, machines, methods and steps. I'm pretty agnostic- I've tried many, not all of them, and much comes down to basic good practices of the type I outlined. I have brought many old used records back from the dead- from unplayably noisy to a high state of play-just based on good practices. I do think some sort of vacuum machine is an essential part of the process. (I use both vacuum RCM and ultrasonic since I find the different methods to be complementary). But, I can get an old "bin find" record very clean and in a high state of play using a basic RCM, like a VPI. You don't have to spend a huge amount of money to get really good results, since much of it, as indicated, has to do with method, rather than the RCM gear itself.