Concepts:
multitracking and mixing
Phil Spector's Wall of Sound
representation of physical space in recordings
production methods: companding, reverberation, equalization
microphone technique

Music on reserve:
Chuck Berry, Johnny B Goode (1958; 2:41)
Beatles, A Day in the Life (1967, 5:35)
Peter Gabriel, Games Without Frontiers
Fleetwood Mac, Tusk (1989; 3:29)
Radiohead, Kid A (2000; 4:44)
Shahrokh Yadegari, The Tear (2000; 9:51)

Reading:

Virgil Moorefield, "The Producer as Composer", pp. 1-35