Concepts:
recording in physical spaces; microphone placement
"close micing" (recording instruments separately)
mixing
multi-track tape recording
instrumental balance
compression and expanding ("companding")

Music on reserve:
Chuck Berry, Johnny B Goode (1958; 2:41)
Beach Boys, Good Vibrations
Marvin Gaye, I Heard It On The Grapevine
Beatles, A Day in the Life (1967, 5:35)
Peter Gabriel, Games Without Frontiers (1980; 4:05)
Radiohead, Kid A (2000; 4:44)
Shahrokh Yadegari, The Tear (2000; 9:51)

Reading:

Virgil Moorefield, The Producer as Composer, chapter 1 (pp. 1-25)