Placement of dynamics
Default settings for the vertical placement of dynamics and their placement relative to the staff in Dorico are designed to ensure that dynamics are clear and legible and follow general placement conventions.
The placement of dynamics relative to the staff varies, depending on their function and the type of player. For example, dynamics are placed below instrumental staves and above vocal staves by default. This ensures dynamics are kept as close to the staff as possible for legibility but are not placed between noteheads and lyrics on vocal staves. For grand staff instruments, such as piano or harp, dynamics are usually placed between the two staves, but can be placed both above and below when each staff requires separate dynamics.
In general, dynamics are not placed within the staff, as hairpins in particular become very hard to read. They are also not usually placed within tuplet brackets.
Dynamics are placed outside of notations such as slurs, which must be kept close to noteheads, but inside pedal lines, which can be placed further from noteheads and still be clearly understood.
You can change how far above/below staves dynamics are placed on the Dynamics page in .