Before I render a lot of video, advice on the audio settings (dialogue), please

[Hugh Robjohns]

I've just listened to the last version.

Its perfectly intelligible so, if all that matters is whether an audience will understand what is being said, I'd say it is adequate.

However, as someone with a former career in broadcast speech, I'd say it leaves much to be desired and, personally, I found the quality of voice and/or processing artefacts quite distracting and irritating or grating.

[Eddy Deegan]

As purely a listener as opposed to an expert in such matters, it is indeed intelligible but the 's' sounds come across more as filtered white noise to me and it sounds almost as if it was synthesized speech despite it obviously not being.

I listened to three versions posted thus far and the same could be said to greater or lesser extent for all three of them. This is one case where I would be greatly inclined to re-record it as opposed to trying to fix it.

I have no practical experience of recording the spoken word other than one occasion when I recorded a voice-over (with no prior notice) for a short company video at my desk using a $10 headset mic.

That recording went live on youtube and much as it's far short of the results Hugh or Mike would have undoubtedly got, I think it's better than the samples you've posted. I'm not knocking/judging you at all - we all do our best and goodness knows few of us are experts in the recorded word but in this case as I said, I think you'd get far better results by re-recording it.