Hi Colin,,
Ronny lays out good parallels and sums it up pretty good.. I would ad that, it really changes a lot from the engineers chair. Or at least down here in the mid to low,,to NO budget scene..
My Old Man started Recording Classical music in the early 60's. At that point, he would simply collect the audio with three omni's and be done. The art here is spending time at rehearsals deciding where the hell to hang mics and which mic's to hang. Then, it's up to the players.. These were really heady and wild times IMHO because of the emotional aspect of the process. I mean, second Violins could screw an otherwise GREAT performance up and feel real bad about it.... Having said that, they were cutting tape back then so it was not that uncommon to cut a movement in here and there..
Jazz. Acoustic Jazz was the same sorta deal. A Quartet would set up in a great room,{or not so great room;-} and blow. An engineer would listen,, a lot,, and then listen some more, go to the mic closet and grab what his.her ears heard. Again, simply trying to collect what's there in the room.
Of course the multi track Machines started to change all this and redefine the role of the AE BIG time. EQ, COMP'S,Time based FX all made it so the tracking and mix Engineers became "artists" beyond the {not so simple} art of collecting Audio. In a typical "modern" rock/pop recording, Engineer's are making a lot of what I would call producer choices right from the chair..... " Oh Man, that guitar tone is all 1 to 5-k,something must be done!" At this point, I try to work the source first with the guitar player leading the way if he can. Someone, is going to learn something, or, everyone is going to learn something. It's never "no one is going to learn anything".
So, IMHO, the line has been blurred over the years. I really really make it forward in my mind that I wont mess with anything I don't need to and make it very clear to the band that.
A. They must love the sounds.
B. If they need my help to love the sounds, I'll help to any extent I can.
I have always viewed engineers in rock and pop music as fill in or, temp band members. We really do shape stuff a lot. This may be different for others though..
Ivan........................................................
EDIT: TO PROPERLY SPELL COLIN.;-}..............................................