Singing group hire in Australia: the complete guide

Voices in harmony do something to a room that instruments cannot. There is no equipment between the performance and the audience, so people watch faces rather than gear, and a group singing without amplification in a good room gets a silence you rarely hear at an event.

This is a headcount booking like any ensemble. The prices below are live from the singing groups listed on this site, and the spread mostly reflects how many voices you are asking for and how long they sing.

The live figures by city sit in the table below. A small group of three or four voices sits at the lower end. Larger ensembles move well up the range, because each voice is another performer who has rehearsed the arrangement and cleared the date.

Rehearsal is the invisible part you are paying for here. Harmony parts have to be learned together, so a group cannot simply assemble on the day the way a rhythm section sometimes can. That is why an unusual song request costs real notice, and sometimes real money.

Unamplified voices need a room that gives something back. Stone, timber, high ceilings and hard floors all help, which is why churches, atriums, stairwells and foyers work so well. Carpet, low ceilings and heavy curtains absorb everything and make a group sound thin and hard working.

So describe the space honestly when you enquire, including what is on the floor and the walls. A group that knows it is a carpeted ballroom will bring microphones. A group that turns up expecting stone and finds carpet is stuck.

Eight or ten people in a line take up more width than most people picture, and they need to hear each other to stay in tune. A group spread around a corner or split by a doorway will drift, so give them a flat area where they can stand close in one arc.

Height helps enormously if you have it. A step, a landing or a low stage means the back of the room sees them instead of hearing disembodied voices, and singing is a visual performance whether or not anyone plans it that way.

A favourite corporate and wedding trick is the group that starts out looking like waiting staff or guests, then begins singing mid course. It works because everyone has their phone out within ten seconds and the story travels well afterwards.

It only works with the venue inside the plan. Staff need to know so nobody intervenes, the room layout has to allow the group to gather without being obvious, and somebody needs to control the timing against the service of food. Ask a group how they have handled it before, because the ones who do this regularly have a routine for it.

How many voices is this quote for? Do you sing unamplified, and what would you need if our room is soft? How many sets and how long can you sing before you need a break? What notice do you need to arrange a specific song? And do you need somewhere private to warm up?

Warm up space is a genuine requirement, not a luxury. Singers cannot go straight from a car to a performance, and half an hour in a back room is the difference between a confident first number and a shaky one.