A Spooky Marriage

Frank Macchia and Tracy London did not come to Los Angeles intending to scare people.

But the Burbank couple have been doing just that. And collecting accolades for their efforts.

They produce “Little Evil Things,” an audio CD series of original short horror stories set to original music, which won Publishers Weekly’s 1997 Listen Up Award. Music industry trade magazine Billboard called the series “a perfect marriage of words and music that sets an effective, creepy atmosphere.” And The Times said “Little Evil Things” is “so energetic and fast-paced that you can’t help having fun.”

Working out of their Burbank home, the husband-and-wife team has now released three volumes of “Little Evil Things” and a fourth is due out soon.

Macchia and London collaborate on the stories, Macchia writes the music and the couple and other actors read the tales. And with the rave reviews, they even have a Web site, https://www.littleevilthings.com, to peddle their horrific wares.

But this is not what they originally had in mind.

Although “Little Evil Things” is increasingly taking up more of his time, Macchia, a graduate of the Berklee School of Music in Boston, still works as an orchestrator and composer for movies and television projects. His credits include “Halloween: H2O,” “The Island of Dr. Moreau,” “Cold Case” and “Private Parts.”

In 1996, Macchia had the idea to showcase his composing talents by scoring the reading of a short story. The response to the demo was so positive, it gave the couple the idea to create original stories with original music.

Growing up in San Francisco in the 1960s, Macchia was a big fan of such old radio programs as “Inner Sanctum” and “Lights Out.”

“I wanted to bring back that sort of thing,” he said. “Your own personal fears manifest themselves.”

London is an actress and singer whose credits include the feature film “Timecop” and the television show “Ink,” among others. Working as the story editor for “Little Evil Things,” the Philadelphia native finally got a chance to use her degree in creative writing from the University of Michigan. She said writing for audio was an unexpected challenge.

“You can’t write down to the audience, but you have to make it clear so they can get it the first time [they hear it],” London said.

Although it’s not film work, “Little Evil Things” lets Macchia’s musical muse run free.

“The point is to marry the music to the story and put the listener into an environment,” he said. “It allows me to do different styles of music--one story was based in Africa and another in New Orleans.”

Macchia records the actor first and then composes the music to fit the actor’s performance, much as he would write music for a film. The music is performed to an electronic digital timing track and later married to the narration.

Each volume of “Little Evil Things” is labeled for 13 and older. With a few exceptions, most of the stories would be appropriate for younger audiences as well, thus making the CDs good for family gatherings, Halloween parties and camp-outs. They retail for $12.95 on Amazon.com.

The first two volumes of “Little Evil Things” were recorded entirely in Macchia’s computer-based, digital recording studio in the couple’s Burbank home, with Macchia performing most of the music on synthesizers.

For their third CD, London and Macchia decided to cast their fate and budget to the wind and try something different. They hired the Moscow Symphony Orchestra, led by conductor Konstantin Krimets, to perform on one eight-minute story, “Buried Alive.”

“These people aren’t session players--they have a lot of passion,” London said. “And they just tore it up.”

The couple liked the results so much that Macchia returned to Moscow earlier this spring to record 40 minutes of music with the Moscow ensemble for Vol. 4 of “Little Evil Things,” due out in September.

“You get a lot of musical bang for your dollar,” Macchia said. “They’re very good musicians.”

London also realizes the prestige value of their Russian adventure.

“When you say a guy recorded the music in his house, people say, ‘Oh yeah,’ ” she said. “But when you say the Moscow Symphony Orchestra, people take notice.”

When they started “Little Evil Things,” the couple had a five-year plan: Do one new CD each year for five years. Both London and Macchia are currently working on the stories for Vol. 5. After that, who knows?

“We’ll do it as long as it’s fun,” London said.