For one thing, you'd be nuts to ignore Bob Katz' honor roll...They have been chosen because they are NOT part of the stupid volume wars going on AND they sound good. A mastering engineer is in the EXACT spot to know
Second, " producer" is a VERY ambiguous term. I cant think of a single time , when I worked with a " name " producer, UNLESS it was a producer/engineer, that the producer had anything at all to do with the sound of the record. Sometimes a producer writes, but usually the " producer" is the son of an executive or someone who has been given fake/make work to do. Sometimes they DO make people mad, so that might have an impact on the playing. Usually engineers, make up fake things for the producer to do to keep them out of their hair.