Show dictionary · Audio
Snake
Also: multicore · loom (UK usage varies)
A snake is the multichannel audio cable bundling dozens of mic lines into one run between the stage and the mix positions, terminating in a stage box on one end and console tails or a patch on the other. Digital snakes replace the copper bundle with a stage box and network cable.
In practice
The analog snake is pure economy: 48 mic lines in one jacket instead of 48 cables taped into a loom. The stage box end collects inputs; a split snake feeds FOH and monitors separately, with transformer splits isolating the two consoles.
Digital stage boxes changed the trade: preamps live on stage, and the "snake" becomes one or two network or coax runs carrying everything, with the split done digitally. The vocabulary survived the copper; crews still say "snake" for whatever carries the channel count.
How you’ll hear it
"Run the snake stage right along the wall; tails land at FOH before lunch."
Related resources
Part of the eventools.io Show Dictionary, a free glossary of live event production terminology.