Matt or Gloss

[Ian Stewart]

I have been extensively changing the settings in Finale to get the appearance I want (and hopefully closer to the Henle look). For a rehearsal I sent the PDF to a commercial printer to print the score, exactly as it was engraved in Finale, and he printed it on gloss paper. I usually use gloss when I print the music myself. Looking at the beautifully produced printing I thought the glare could be a problem under certain lighting.
My question - do engravers on this forum use matt or gloss? Usually I send the score and parts to the ensemble as PDFs so I am not usually involved in that part of the process.

[N Grossingink]

I've never seen music printed on glossy paper - sounds like a bad idea. As a matter of fact, the only things I can recall printed on glossy paper are photographs and graphics meant for display.

[Zoots]

Been playing in concert bands for 35 years and have never been given a glossy.

[miker]

Nope, never.

[BuonTempi]

Again, No. Never.

Text and music are/were traditionally printed on uncoated, off-white paper. Gloss paper was created to maximize the colour range of colour printing -- you'll see old books with yellowish uncoated pages for text, and 'plate sections' of images on gloss paper.

However, laser printers need to have a smoother coated surface for the toner to adhere, and this has shifted availability and usage towards more coated papers, particularly glossy for colour printing. Though there are matt and 'silk' coatings that are less reflective.

You're also right that glossy paper can be prone to glare: the brightness actually makes the music/text more difficult to read.

A commercial printer who suggests gloss paper for music or black text is not someone whose opinion I would consider.

[motet]

And as anyone who's tried to work a crossword puzzle printed in a magazine knows, it's difficult to write on coated stock in pencil.

[Ian Stewart]

I think I used the wrong description, shiny would have been better than gloss. I went to a rehearsal this morning and the score did not glare and pen and pencil can write on the paper without problem. It is presumably just a shinier version of normal paper, certainly not photographic paper.

Thanks for all your comments.

[motet]

Shiny like a magazine? That's normally called coated stock; not as shiny as a photograph.

Still hard to know what you mean. You don't want light glinting off the paper at all--that can be distracting. It should be about the same shininess as ordinary copy paper--that is, not shiny at all. Music is usually printed on somewhat heavier paper than copy paper so the notes don't show through from the other side.

[Zoots]

Another advantage of heavier paper is that a single sheet will stand-up a lot better on a music stand without any additional support mechanisms.

[BuonTempi]

I think I used the wrong description, shiny would have been better than gloss.

Gloss is the more usual technical term for coated paper with high reflectance. But yes: shiny is wrong.

If you look at traditionally printed scores -- or scores from Henle, Baerenreiter, etc, you'll see it's entirely non-shiny, and often off-white.