If its a band, I would think most of the decisions would be made by whoever is writing the music in the band.. The band will decide on a producer quite often the producer will hire an engineer he's worked with before.. The producer may or may not have the final say.. the high dollar producers like Mutt Lange or Bob Ezrin are gonna have final say.. Artists hire guys like that specifically to get that producers talents applied to their music.. Def Leppard was a good example of that.. Kind of a heavy metal band that hired Mutt Lange who chilled out their sound and made it more mainstream and, as a result, created some of the highest selling LPs of all time..

In cases like Def Leppard the producer TOTALLY runs the show, driving the band to do exactly what he wants.. Like Def Leppard some bands have LPs that sound completely different from their other LPs.. Kiss Destroyer and Alice Cooper Welcome to my Nightmare sounded TOTALLY different than their other previous LPs because Bob Ezrin took over both LPs and molded the bands sound into what HE wanted.. and most of the time the results are spectacular for the bands and the LPs are massively successful..

There can be a LOT of differing opinions on which songs actually get released on specific LPs.. The band/singer might record 12-15 songs and then the best songs are decided on by the record label, the artist, and the producer.. quite often the label will dig in and often get their way because they are the entity that is actually funding the release.. but, I've seen an awful lot of arguments as to which songs specifically made the LP and which ones were cut,or released separately in a Greatest Hits with additional tracks or something like that..

Sometimes the label REALLy digs in, like in the case of Warrant in the 80's.. The night before recording was supposed to wrap on an LP they dug in and wanted more of radio hit song, so THAT night Janey Lane wrote "Cherry Pie" specifically to appease the label's wishes and Cherry Pie ended u being one of the biggest rock hits of the 80's.. Had the label not dug in, that song probably never gets written..

I've always heard that the artist hires who THEY want as producer.. The producer may hire an engineer that knows him well and knows what he wants and how to get it.. Generally the artist will decide WHERE to record - in what studio in what country, or island, or basement etc.. The artist has to be happy with the environment they lay their tracks down in.. then, quite often the producer takes over - sometimes with the vision HE has and sometimes the more the vision the band has.. But no producer will produce an LP he is uncomfortable with.. if it starts going down that road, sometimes the producer is fired or replaced or quits..

I know what studio/producer I will work with if I ever can get it together.. Empire Sound in Dallas with Alex Gerst producing.. I have talked with several guys who recorded with Alex and HE runs the show, telling the band exactly how he wants stuff recorded.. Of course the band will have more creative control in a situation like that because independent artists hiring their own studio/producer for their own self-producer LP will have more say.. I know exactly what I wanna do and if Alex doesn't agree with the majority of my ideas, I'll go elsewhere.. Bands recording for major record labels don't have near as much leeway unless they are huge bands..

See what happens when you ask me about music stuff? I ramble on and on and on..

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