Not exactly the same question, but every mastering engineer I've worked with has asked me to bring him a CD that has a 'sound' that I like on it. Then they would try to match the 'ambience' of my recording to that one, decide how much to 'tighten up' the bass, how present to make the lead steel line vs the bass, etc.
In my opinion, this is a silly question from a recording engineer. The recording engineer's job is to get the sound coming from the instrument(any instrument)on tape or hard drive as close to possible the sound as the original sound produced from the instrument. After that the producer works with the mixing engineer to get the desired sound, and afterwards works with the mastering engineer. These are all totally separate and completely different processes.
I do not claim to be a recording professional, but have been involved with many aspects of the process.
When hired for a session, you play the best you can and get the best sound you can when it is being recorded regardless of the process. That is what you get paid for. The producer should be the one who has the input regarding "what do I want it to sound like?"
After that, the sound is in the hands of the producer/mixing/mastering personnel.
That is how it works in the real music world in my experience.
Best regards,
David