-Seeing the potential: a producer relies on his/her ears to zero in on the aspects of your song/lyrics/tune that most effectively carry the mood and message of your song. She/he will be able to break down all the aspects of what you’ve created and find which is the strongest. For example: do the vocals carry the majority of the emotion in this song? Is the rhythmic pulse exceptionally captivating? Does that one guitar lick just make you move?

-Bringing it to the fore: You’ve got a lot of sauce in your song, but your average listener can’t hear it because something else is in the way. So just like a life coach helps you organize your priorities, the producer will bring certain elements forward, push others back, remove some parts altogether, and perhaps add something new as well. To use the examples from before: the vocals carry great emotion, but there are too many other instruments crowding them out. The rhythmic pulse is captivating, so we need to make sure all the other instruments are locking in with that pulse. That one guitar lick is fire, so lets make the bass less distracting at that point.

-Fully polished: Once everything is set in place, the producer helps you ensure that your song sounds radio-ready, or put another way, clean and perfected. Any chef knows how vital this last step is; you can cook the most delicious meal, but if you don’t present it in an appetizing fashion, you’re taking away the customer’s ability to enjoy what you’ve made. You want to set your listeners up to be able to enjoy that great song that you’ve spent so long perfecting. For example, getting that vocal, rhythmic pulse, and guitar lick recorded on proper equipment and finding the right people to mix and master.