What is the role of a record producer?

Answer 1

Really, a record producer can hold alot of different roles depending on what the band or label wants from them. Mostly, the "Produced by" credit goes to the person or persons (or band) who's job it was to achieve the overall sound and feel of the recording. A producer will be in the studio listening to the music as it is being recorded and will guide the studio engineer (in some cases the producer acts as the engineer as well) and musicians towards achieving the sound that he/she wants to hear for the given music. All the Led Zeppelin albums were produced by Jimmy Page as he is the one who guided the studio engineers and techs to achieve the sound he wanted to hear on the album. The Beatles were famously produced by George Martin who also engineered the sessions. Because of the role of the producer, a producer who also has technical knowledge of the studio is preferable and will be easier to work with and/or for.