Finale Forum

I’d like to work on improving the appearance of my Finale scores and parts to make them look more “professionally engraved.” Does anyone know if a list of suggested layout settings for Finale exists? I realize that these decisions are subjective, but I would be grateful for a list, or descriptions of layout standards that have been acceptable to a publisher. I am referring to things like recommended page scalings, preferred music spacings, fonts, maximum and minimum distance between staves, etc. A list of Finale settings, or templates, that have been acceptable to a publisher would be really helpful. Does something like this exist? Many thanks for any suggestions! Meanwhile, back to Gould.

Finale 25 on Mac

The best advice is to find a score you like the look of, and try to duplicate it. As you said, it’s completely subjective. Each publishing house has their own specifications, so, unless you are working for them, it’s not likely that you will get them.

Out of curiosity, what kind of music (instrumentation) do you engrave most often?

N.

Most often I am engraving choral music with accompaniments ranging from organ (and/or piano) to full orchestra.

SamGroude1 wrote:Most often I am engraving choral music with accompaniments ranging from organ (and/or piano) to full orchestra.

Which goes to the question, What do I like?

You can also start with, What do I dislike? For me, with choral, I'm not a fan of the school that thinks 19th C. hymnals are the high point of readability. I also find Oxford University Press not as easy to read.

Hi Sam,

Try http://notat.io/

There are numerous threads on Finale settings, fonts, layout. publisher styles etc. But you will have to look through the threads to find what you need.

Thanks for the link John. I really appreciate it and will definitely check it out.