Musical duo hire in Australia: the complete guide

Two musicians is the size most events actually need. A duo carries a vocal and a real instrument, fits in the corner of a restaurant without eating four tables, and can drop the volume during speeches instead of stopping dead. That combination is why duos get booked more than any other small lineup in the country.

Prices on this page come straight from the duos listed here, updated as they update their own listings. Read what shifts a duo's fee, then send the same brief to three or four of them and compare the replies.

A solo performer leans on backing tracks to sound full. A four-piece needs a stage, a bigger PA and a room that can take the volume. A duo sits in the middle and rarely has to compromise: one person singing, one person on guitar or keys, and often both singing harmony through a small system that a venue manager will not argue with.

The practical bit is space and power. Most duos set up inside three metres of floor on two power points, which means they can play a courtyard, a function room or a house deck without anyone rearranging furniture. That flexibility is worth more on the night than an extra musician would be.

Two wages sit under every quote, so hours matter more than anything else. A two hour background booking and a four hour night with a dance floor are different jobs, and the second one includes setting up, packing down and driving home at midnight. Ask for the fee against the actual hours you want, not a generic evening rate.

After hours, it is travel and gear. A duo heading two hours out of a capital is losing most of a day, and that shows up in the number. Some carry their own PA and lights as standard, some quote them separately, and a few will use the venue's system if there is one. Sort that out in the first email so you are comparing like with like.

The word duo covers two quite different products. An acoustic pair playing softly through dinner is one trade. A vocals and guitar act with drum tracks, playing dance floor songs at full volume until late, is another. Both are listed here as duos and both are doing what their profile says, so read the song list and watch a video before you decide either way.

Plenty of duos do both, and that is the most useful kind to book for a long event. Quiet at arrival, warmer through dinner, loud after the cake. One booking, one setup, and the room never goes quiet while someone swaps over.

Brisbane, Sydney, Melbourne and Perth all carry deep lists, and Perth is unusual here because its duo numbers hold up against the east coast even though its population does not. Queensland overall is the strongest state on this page, helped by the Gold Coast and the Sunshine Coast, where year round outdoor functions keep small acts busy.

Outside the capitals it thins out fast, which changes the maths rather than ruling anything out. A regional booking usually means paying travel to bring someone out from the nearest city, and it means asking earlier, because the handful of local duos get booked out well before the city ones do.

Is that your fee for the hours I have described, including setup and pack down? Do you bring your own sound system, and do you need anything from the venue? Can you play quietly during speeches and then lift it afterwards? Do you use backing tracks, and on which songs? And who is the second person, because a duo is two specific people and you want to know both are the ones in the video.

That last one catches more problems than people expect. Partnerships change, and a duo with a new second member is a different act from the one you watched. A straight answer takes a sentence, and any working pair will give it.