I disagree that hiring a producer or a name producer means "selling out", as Foo suggested.
On the subject of production, I have a lot of ideas. I'm hoping that none of you believe that the introduction of a producer means "selling out". A producer doesn't simply make the music marketable. I'm mean, a musician or a group can and have been signed because they have potential. Honestly, there is a huge bunch of bands that suck out there. The idea is that these musicians or groups have ability and ideas, but are inexperienced when it comes to organizing a song. We all know the countless number of bands out there that are really trying hard to "get noticed" and we also know the reasons why they won't anytime soon....
They can't play well...
They can't write well...
They can play and can't really write...
They have a virtuoso in the group that is basically the leg on which they stand...
The list goes on. Some of us recording engineers consider ourselves to be producers. Sometimes we have to take that job for the good of the product. For some musicians, someone has to be there to say, "let's try doing this...". Or "there's something clashing here..." "You know, this part is becoming monotonous in the song..."
You all know what I'm saying.
I also think that the industry is looking for younger talents these days. Look what happened to Vanilla Ice. He was a young, punk kid that got caught up in the scene and now he resents it all. I think that too many young people get on the scene and are not developed as writers and musicians. That's where the producer comes in... Face it, if producers weren't involved, many of our favorite albums would probably suck.
I think it can be a good experience for any musician to work with a producer. You pick up a lot of stuff. You learn how to better write your songs.
I have a friend who was signed a couple of years ago and on the first album he wrote, they raped him. It's true... I don't think it was because they couldn't handle "the art" in his recordings. I believe they probably just weren't very hot. I've heard the stuff that comes out of his basement. It needs some production sometimes. On his second album, he was allowed to self-produce the last, like, four of eleven songs on the record. Eventually, you gain the right to do whatever the hell you want. I guess if one plays by the rules long enough, one gets to make the rules.
Also, the producer isn't always some stranger that is just sent for by the company. Sometimes it's just a friend who's sitting in and helping coordinate.
(Sorry about the novel)