CENTRAL CONTROL - JIM SERBENT, ARTIST

PORTRAIT: JIM SERBENT by Buzz  Freitag



STILL FRAME FROM THE VIDEO: "OUT OF DREAM"


JAN HALL'S INVENTION: THE SYNCHROM



STILL FRAME FROM THE VIDEO: "VIDEO LIFE FORM SERIES"

Circa 1980, I came in contact with a group of intensely motivated, musically-involved, artistic people who assisted in growing the concept of CENTRAL CONTROL, originally a personal project studio which sprang from a core concept involving multi-media experimentation. Musical ideas developed into multi-track recordings; slide shows were accompanied by original soundtracks; songs became music videos. Electronic images were transformed into photographic renderings and vice versa. Abstractions coalesced into motion pictures.

Musical collaboration and a challenging partnership with guitarist and songwriter, James Seven, led to the birth of a new techno-synth duo and CENTRAL CONTROL became its name. It was perfect for a New York electronic music group of the 1980s whose videos appeared in art/performance venues and dance clubs from Manhattan to Long Island to Washington, DC. One in particular, Out of Dream, was featured in art museums coast to coast.

Close association with electronic engineer and designer, Jan Hall, resulted in the development of the Synchrom, a custom built video color synthesizer that was used extensively in the art and music video works that followed. The Synchrom gave these projects a uniquely colorized look with a raw electronic edge.

The CENTRAL CONTROL name and logo came to represent group efforts as well as my solo projects. During the early to mid-'80s, the following friends and associates helped make many of the music and art videos possible:


STILL FRAME FROM THE VIDEO: "BENT CROSS"


PORTRAIT: JAMES SEVEN by Buzz Freitag

 

PORTRAIT: JAN HALL


STILL FRAME FROM THE MUSIC VIDEO: "LE SACRIFICE"

James Seven
Jan Hall
Joe Dee
Frankie Quinn
Richard Azar
Tom Steinmann
Tom Hoffman
Carlos Ferreira
Miriam Chaban Ferreira
Grace
Jay Dorfman
Barbara Glover
Buzz Freitag
Kathy Freitag
Joe Ferrara
compositions and guitars
mentoring, video engineering
percussion, drumloops
audio engineering, drums
mentoring, video editing
bass
synthesizer
videography, support
guest artist
guest artist
guest artist
associate producer
production assistant
production assistant
production assistant

After entering the field of broadcast video production in the late '80s, I continued to use the CENTRAL CONTROL name/logo through the following decades to identify my video art works and commercial freelance projects. That original concept from 1980 lives on as CENTRAL CONTROL MEDIA.

— Jim Serbent
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