Ok. This is how I see music production.
See it like a pyramid. From top to bottom.
From not so important to more important.

Try to follow me here, a production is:

– a recording by

– an  artist doing

– a performance of

– an arrangement of

– a     S    O    N     G   !

Meaning if you don’t have a good song as a foundation you have nothing to build upon. And then going up the pyramid doing good, well, thought through arrangements will make it easy and natural for getting a great performance. Then who does the performance is irrelevant if it is incredible and how you capture it or how you process it later doesn’t matter ’cause if it is great it is great. IF IT IS SHIT IT WILL STILL BE SHIT WHATEVER YOU DO.