The producer skills necessary to get a hit record are many, and not easy to fully learn.  Thinking like a recording artist, a songwriter, a musician or even a recording engineer is not thinking like a producer.  You could say the producer thinks more like a recording artist, a songwriter, a musician and a recording engineer simultaneously plus does it as an outside observer.

When the tune becomes a hit, the songwriter will blame the song, the recording artist will say it's the performance, the musician will be sure the track made it a hit and the recording engineer will, of course, site the recording and mixing quality as the key factor.  The producer will, however, correctly know that the reason it is a hit is because of good production - it had to be.  This is because production is defined as having the best song, excellent recording with the best artist's performance, plus a few other factors.  The producer's job is to get the best product.

Most producers are songwriters.  When a producer is presented a weak song (usually written by the recording artist) the producer will work with the artist to make it a better song.  It is not uncommon for the producer to be a co-writer on the final recorded version when extensive re-writes are necessary.

The modern producer is to some extent a recording engineer/producer who is capable of taking over the engineering when necessary but more usually a good recording supervisor that can direct the engineer to perform the best.  A producer who doesn't know recording techniques does not always get the best engineering job.  Some of the best mixes I have heard were a product of the engineer and producer "competing" to get the better mix.

Many top producers are also accomplished vocalists who can finely direct a singer's performance by actually demonstrating the style, execution or nuances that are wanted on the final recorded performance. 

It is hard for recording artists to be really objective about their own performance.  There are very few recording artists that are good at producing themselves but sometimes are good at producing other artists.   Good, experienced musicians can often can judge the quality of a track, but could be better at judging recording, mixing and song quality.  It takes a special kind of ability to be able to break down the various elements of a music production, making sure each is the best possible, and then putting them back together correctly.

So, lets say that the background vocalists are loose and sloppy on your production. There are objectionable timing errors causing double hitting of hard consonants.  You have decided that tight vocals are needed - what do you do?

The producer would choose the best solution that could be done within the budget and deadline constraints present on the project.  We just had a situation come up that one of the singers on a production was "on tour" in Europe for several weeks, eliminating the possibility of re-singing the parts, if we were to make the release deadline.  We opted for a mixing solution to keep the project on schedule.

The Bag Of Tricks

The "tricks" that a producer uses to keep the best production quality and to stay within budget and time constraints, are usually obtained though experience.  Each time a production hits a snag and a solution is devised, a "production tip" for future projects is born.  If you then spend a lot of time observing good producers and try your hand at doing a production, you begin to form your own "bag of tricks" to use as a producer.