Hi friends,
Has anyone have experience with online analog summing services? I'm considering trying it, it would be very interesting to see how much difference it makes! I have looked at http://www.thesummingstation.com f.ex. which seems interesting. I have no budget to buy the equipment required, so it's cool that they offer this.
If you have tried it (this company or any other), did you have good experience with it? any other company you can recommend?
 
BR Pilu

Sounds like a scam to me.
 
"...analog summing adds separation, warmth, 3d, glue, depth, space  to your mixes."
 
This statement is at best a gross exaggeration of the benefits of analog summing, and at worst blatant propagation of audio myths to take advantage of the technically naive. "Adds separation"? Think that claim through...

bitflipper
Sounds like a scam to me.
 
"...analog summing adds separation, warmth, 3d, glue, depth, space  to your mixes."
 
This statement is at best a gross exaggeration of the benefits of analog summing, and at worst blatant propagation of audio myths to take advantage of the technically naive. "Adds separation"? Think that claim through...

First, just because one does not know a whole lot about analog, f.ex. pretty much all of the younger generation (you know... the ones who grew up with technology), doesn't mean they are technically naive. Thats just stupid on many levels. I'm even thinking you are maybe trolling :)
 
Second, this website is not the only one that claims these benefits from analog summing. You are surprised of their claims, which surprised me. I'm not even saying they are true, but I want to see what benefits it has, maybe some of them are true.
 
No need to write as if I'm naive/dumb Mr forum host.

Analog summing just adds noise, distortion, crosstalk, etc. Often people who believe in it think it solves "problems" with digital summing that don't exist. There is zero magic involved. 
 
Having said that, some people might indeed subjectively like the sound of the added noise/distortion/crosstalk.
 
Also, when discussing analog summing, all of the proponents seem to be clueless about exactly what type of summing bus they are using (as if all analog summing was the same and had identical characteristics) or how the magic comes about from the summing part itself and not from introducing noise/distortion/crosstalk on individual channels, then summing them and then adding make up gain to the result (which adds more noise/distortion/crosstalk).
 
To me, when no one can give any kind of technical explanation of something and leave out the most key information, my BS antennae are on high alert.
 
YMMV.

Whoa there pilutiful!  I am sure that Bitflipper was trying to save you from being scammed and in no way attempting to insult you.  The world is so complex and there are so many bad guys out there that we all need any help we can get to keep our selves and our equipment (computers) safe.
   I agree with Bitflipper that the claims being made are very outlandish from a technical stand point.  It's OK to investigate new concepts and services but let's not lose site of scientific principles.  I don't want you to be scammed either!

I know various mixers and many use analog summing - mostly for adding analog hardware effects to their digital mix.  While some users insist just using nice clean analog summing helps with all the aspects mentioned by the OP, most modern professionals are leery of any benefits (or the ones I've talked to or read). 
 
A big part of the original emphasis on summing came from early digital summing, esp. protools trying to cram 120 tracks through - what was it - a 28-bit engine?.  Easy to screw that up, esp. for beginners.  But with todays well-designed hard and software I find little reason to use external, analog summing.  Although I wish I did have a nice summer, or better yet, actual console.  I've got extra hardware I could use not that I have my 2-buss filled.
 
But an on-line summing service ...

I wouldn't go so far as to wonder if the site is a scam, but I'm far from sure their service is particularly useful.

The thing about analogue anything is that the sound you get out of it depends not only on the design and component quality of the equipment but also on how you set it up and the signal strength you feed into it. Anything that does summing, be it a cheap mixer or a high-end rack unit is capable of producing a wide range of different results. Unless you can control the process, or are so familiar with it and the device used that you can provide instructions to the operator, there's no certainty that the result will be to your liking.

There's also a lot of plugins that can add the kind of distortion, compression etc. that analogue mixers do. Not quite the same perhaps, but pretty close. Cakewalk's console emulator is one, Waves' NLS another. Or if you want something more extreme wait for Waves Abbey Road REDD and TG12345 console emulators to turn up at a sale price. Or get Harrison's mixbus. All of which will be yours for ever and are cheaper than that site's price for processing a single album.

Another option is to pick up an inexpensive valve preamp and decent quality valve (such as JJ or Tesla) to replace the cheap and nasty one the manufacturer fitted, pass the audio tracks out of your interface, through the preamp and back to an interface input.

I would be curious as to how they actually do it.  Do they just sum your stems for example at unity gain and you provide the stems at the right volume levels.  Or do you provide stems all at the same level and get them to sum them at precise levels etc.. Or do they sum your tracks instead of stems.  (and at what levels etc)  The website does not seem to be over clear on this.
 
A really great mix can be had ITB as well especially with the digital tools we have these days. eg Plugins and Mixbus for example.  A bad mix will still sound bad even if summed externally.  A great mix will sound great no matter how it was summed.
 
The OP may be thinking that some magic fairy dust will be sprinkled over a mediocre mix and it will be somehow magically transformed.  Maybe get back to making your mixes as good as they can be.  It's funny in that when you do a really fantastic mix, external summing does not seem to come to mind.  Or at least for me anyway.
 
There is some truth in using the finest available D to A and running all your tracks into a Neve or SSL console for example. That can sound excellent.  But now it is not the only way to achieve it though.
 
Your comments about Bitflipper’s response are also way off the mark too.  It is obvious you don’t know him very well.

I can imagine analog summing increasing width slightly if it's introducing small differences between the left and right channels, and I get the part about analog warmth and saturation (which could also have a small gluing effect) but I've never understood the claims about "3D depth" and separation. How exactly would analog summing increase depth?

Plus, you were a bit of a dick to Bitflipper if you don't mind saying so - perhaps you should apologize for that before continuing in the discussion.

pilutiful
No need to write as if I'm naive/dumb Mr forum host.

I'm sorry you took it that way. It truly was not my intention to be insulting.
 
Being technically naive has nothing to do with one's past familiarity with analog. Most young folks today are in fact technologically naive, despite being immersed in technology. They may know how to get free movies but they have no idea what the underlying technology is that gets those movies into their smartphones. And I'm not being judgmental in saying that, just acknowledging the reality that none of us can truly understand all the tech we use.
 
However, we can selectively delve deeper into specific technologies when it suits our needs. Such as when you're trying to make the best possible mixes. But researching that information takes time, and while you're getting up to speed you have to wade through a tremendous amount of misinformation. Some of it's urban mythology, some of it is intentional obfuscation in order to bamboozle consumers. It can be challenging to differentiate one from the other.
 
Yes, I do doubt their claims. Actually, no, I don't just doubt them, I refute them because they are wrong. Whether the site operator is a con artist or just misguided, the site you linked to is taking advantage of people.
 
I'll leave it to Drew or others to explain exactly why those claims are false or misleading. But trust me, they are. (OK, I'll give them one of the claims: "warmth". It may just be code for harmonic distortion, but since there's no actual definition for "warmth" in this context, then I guess it's OK to use it any way you like.)
 
But no, pilutiful, I do not think you are "dumb". I'm just afraid you're about to hand over a buck because you think you might know which cup the pea is under.