MKE2 upside down?

Even an omni is going to have less sensitivity with the base blocking the capsule. I'm assuming that is the question, you want to point the mic away from what you want to record. With a lav you areso close that it probably make almost no audible difference though you might pick up more sounds from where it is pointed.
 
If fact I've found little difference pointing MKE omni mics downwards. In fact sometimes if the mic is on a person who often looks down to notes on a lectern or in their lap when sitting it can sometimes help minimize heavy noisy breathers on the mic. A lot of the resonant sound recorded on a lav mic is actually transmitted through the breastbone of the speaker. A well placed lav taking that into consideration will generally have more impact on the recorded sound more so than whether the mic facing up or down. I also find in some clothing situations inverted is easier to mount. Sennheiser omnis have an almost 360 degree reception field. Lovely mics. Another thing that effects the upper end performance on these mics is whether you are running the long or short caps on them, the 1 MZC 2-1 cap (short), 1 MZC 2-2 cap (long) caps. More on that can be found below. I have half a dozen or so of these MKE mics but I mainly now use ECM-88's as they are just great at killing cable/clothing noise and rustle which makes them much quicker to set up in rush situations as you can get away with paying less attention to minimizing clothing sounds. More sensitive to wind outdoors but great frequency response indoors and hardly ever any cable sound issues.

Chris Young

https://assets.sennheiser.com/downloads/download/file/3726/MKE2-4-C-GOLD_ProductSheet.pdf

https://assets.sennheiser.com/global-downloads/file/5712/MKE2_Gold_Manual_07_2015_EN.pdf

ECM-88's

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PgZ0vM8qiNw
 
Pretty standard to point omni downwards to stop blasting and spitting.popping - UK broadcasters do it all the time. There's no practical difference in pickup. The rear path is of course blocked, but they work by sound pressure, not the differential of pressure you get with a cardioid with a rear vent - which produces the cardioid response.
 
Yup here at SKY in the UK we put them anyway we want and hear little difference, we do the same with our stock cabled Sony ECM77b too.

We have around 150 sennheiser radio mic's here with a mix of digital and analogue systems.
 
Thanks everyone for answering my question. It sounds like it's actually best practice to point the lav downward to avoid pops when the subject is looking down or reading. Visually it bothers me a little because I know it's technically upside down but I think I'll have to get over that.
 
egproductions said:
Is there any drawback to flipping an MKE2 upside down? I believe it's an omni polar pattern. Thanks!
Click to expand...

It's actually better to have the mic. pointing down.

The MKE 2 is omni-directional so it picks up just as well from the back as it does from the front - there is no difference at all.

BUT - using it pointing down protects the capsule from "nose blasts" - ie: air from the nose blasting into the mic. and causing noise and distortion.

This is why you will see, mostly, microphones used by well trained professionals are almost always pointing down.

Don't forget to loop the cable from the mic. and trap it in the clip (some have a slot specially for this) - this is important as it helps isolate the microphone from the cable so any noise caused by the cable rubbing on the body or clothing does not transmit to the mic.
 
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