What is a producer? This is opening up a potential can of worms/Pandora's box, but what I will give is an example, only one, of what a producer can be.
I often wonder what the word "producer" means. When people ask me if I produce records I answer with a hesitant "yes." I don't know. I feel like a lot of times I co-produce with a band. I don't feel like I'm running sessions with an iron fist, rewriting songs, dictating tempos and forcing my own vision on the band. Instead I play it pretty mellow, trying to capture what's best about the group, offering sonic ideas and such. I've worked in a few sessions where there was a producer on hand but it wasn't until recently where it became apparent what a producer could be.