Yo Lyrikool, welcome to the board! OK, I spent about 3 years trying to figure out the answer to your question, so I'll take a shot at it. First, what a producer is depends on who is writing the checks. Four versions:
1. (old school) The producer is a guy who works for a major record label. He deals with the artist's manager, and directs the project, which will be an album. If the band sucks, and are a pain in the ass to work with, he threatens to quit, and the band most likely gets dropped by the label, because the producer is more important than the band. He is the Romanian gymnastics coach who busts balls, fires people he doesn't like, strokes people he does like, especially if *she* has big tits. He gets paid a lot of money because he knows how to get mediocre bands to make marketable albums. He is a pain in the ass to musicians, tracking engineers, mixing engineers, and mastering engineers. In the end, though, if he's any good, he can get any band, no matter how bad, to record an album *that sells*. The record label and the producer make all the money. The recording artist signs a userous contract that requires them to do a 30 city tour as lead-on for a top bill group. The band actually can make a lot of money touring, until they are drained and wind up at the Betty Ford clinic being treated for exhaustion, drug addiction, and the AIDS they got from some Ho or groupie the producer probably set them up with.
2. The laid-back version- The rich producer gets tired of this crap and *becomes* the record label. He actually seeks out talent and signs them, pays to produce their grammy-winning album, and occasionally even pays them. If you are good enough to sign with such a producer, congratulations. Usually such guys actually sign you because you *are* that good, not just because they can make money off of you. If you are working with George Martin or Al Schmitt, guess what? You really have made it.
3. The new school version.- This guy is an independant contractor, who is hired *by* the talent, instead of the other way around. If you don't like him, you can fire him. His job is to translate the vision of the recording artist into a CD, and help guide them through the process, sort of a recording consultant. He may be a useless waste of money, or a gift from God, worth every penny. He solves problems, and hands out reality checks instead of bank checks.
4. Hip-hop version- He steals beats from mostly copyrighted work, is good with samplers and sequencers, and provides background beats for gangsta-rappers. These have sprouted up by the thousands lately. They usually know nothing about real recording, but will always know where to get good blow. A handful of them actually have produced CD's that sold millions of copies, and once in a while, the recording artists actually see some of the piles of money generated. More often, they are incompetent hustlers who call themselves producers so they can get laid.
In all versions, this is the truth of it. A producer is a project manager, and in this case, the project is a CD. The producer is the hub that all information and all decisions pass through. He deals with the executive producer, who figures out how to pay for all of this. The executive producer usually deals with legal, copyright, work for hire agreements, residuals, mechanical royalties, bookeeping, tax records, duplication, distribution, and marketing. The producer deals with the talent, the tracking, mixing, and mastering engineers (any of whom may also be the producer). He deals with the artistic director, cover art, and the project photographer. Often he must be a vocal coach. In the end, he is really the guy that decides what songs will be on the album, in what order, and which version. He's the guy who can just say, "I don't like that with a telecaster, can I hear it on a Les Paul?"
I can tell you from personal experience that it is a tough job. Imagine flying a vocalist across the country to lay down vocals on a CD and having to tell them, "Thank you for you contribution, but your tracks weren't really compatible with our artistic vision. I'm sorry, but we weren't able to use your tracks." That's how a producer says, "You suck, and now I have to explain to the executive producer why we wasted a bunch of money flying you around. Keep your day job."
Well my day job is registered nurse, and the producer is a lot like the nurse in the hospital. They can't cure your disease (or give you talent). They aren't exactly in charge, but nothing can happen without them. Often they are the ones who have to tell people the things they don't want to hear, and a good one can make everything a little easier, often with a better outcome.-Richie