Rising Stars: Meet Horst of West Hollywood

Today we’d like to introduce you to Horst.

Horst, we appreciate you taking the time to share your story with us today. Where does your story begin?
I discovered my passion for sound through some distinct events in my life. When I was playing in bands, a friend of mine brought a computer to the rehearsal space. I immediately was on fire, discovering all the opportunities that sound and computer incorporate.
There was one earlier event in my life when I was recording radio shows with my family. I was amazed by the fact that you can record voices and music and create additional overdubs with multiple cassette tapes. This was around 1986.
When I was 23 years old, I started my professional career in radio. I had a side gig working in a recording studio, where I witnessed the power of Foley to picture. This sparked my passion to help filmmakers tell their story through sound.
In 2013, I founded my own company, and we quickly started to work for productions based in Los Angeles. I remember reading about somebody in Germany who worked for American music producers and cut the drum tracks while his clients were sleeping. Many years later, I used the same advantage of the nine-hour time difference to help sound designers in Los Angeles meet their deadlines.
In 2023, I decided to move to the United States to focus my work as a supervising sound editor on helping directors and producers directly.

We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
It has been mostly a smooth road with many struggles along the way. I consider it a smooth road because, aside from some moments in my life, I was always very clear on what I wanted to do with my time. This helped a lot to pave the road.
I could tell you that obstacles, challenges, and struggles help you get where you want to be. Looking back, I truly believe that I was the biggest obstacle in my career path so far, and the learning process is to get to know yourself better so you can, first of all, be a valuable part of society and, second, be happy with who you are and what you do.
Time, money, crew, creative decisions, and opportunities for growth have always been challenges, and I believe this won’t stop now that I’ve made it to Hollywood. I believe the opposite is true—things have gotten more extreme in this environment.
Right now, my biggest challenge is to fine-tune my signal-to-noise detector to focus on meaningful work and filter out unwanted distractions. However, leaving room for spontaneity and joy in my work is what I still want to keep.

Alright, so let’s switch gears a bit and talk business. What should we know about your work?
I work as a sound designer and supervising sound editor for films and TV.

With Great Story Sound (California) and Klangkulisse (Austria), we operate 24/7 with access to Hollywood talent and European Cash Rebates. For mixing, we 4-wall the most suitable stages in Los Angeles for each project’s budget.

Since 2013, we are working on the sound of films, TV, video games, museums, automotive and corporate. My personal audio experience encompasses 25 years of professional sound work. Some of the highlights are three festival wins for best sound, the Austrian export award ‘US-A-Biz Award’, sound delivery for most major US networks, and taking part in theatrical screenings of our work.

Are there any apps, books, podcasts, blogs or other resources you think our readers should check out?
Some of my favorite sources for inspiration and information are:

https://www.production-expert.com/
https://tonebenderspodcast.com/
https://www.youtube.com/@RedLetterMedia

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.greatstorysound.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/horstschnattler
• Other: https://www.imdb.com/name/nm6430391