When Mudvayne kicks off its "Pedal To The Metal" tour Friday at the Cumberland County Civic Center in Portland, Maine, the headbanging quartet with four gold records to its name will be rested and ready to jam thanks to a four-day tuneup in the Lakes Region.

From Saturday through Tuesday, the band rehearsed at the Granite Media Center, which is tucked into the backwoods of Tilton and equipped with state-of-the-art equipment and space that makes it the ideal place to do anything creative, be it make commercials, films or, as in the case of Mudvayne, get to practice in a quiet, discrete place.

Morgan Murphy helped bring Mudvayne — whose lead single from the album "Dig" won the MTV2 Award in 2001 and which in 2006 was nominated for Best Metal Performance at the Grammy Awards — to the GMC and on Wednesday, the New Hampton resident said the band had a great and very productive time there.

"They were thrilled. They loved it. There was lots of room and any service they would want, Eliza and Bob made sure they'd have," said Murphy of GMC owner Bob Callahan and consultant Eliza Leadbeater.

The former executive director of the Belknap County Economic Development Council, Leadbeater worked with Callahan to bring the GMC to life several years ago.

To date, Mudvayne is the biggest artist to utilize the GMC, but both Callahan and Murphy hope they are the first of many.

"We're building a pipeline of talent to Central New Hampshire," said Murphy, who produced and directed two music videos for alt-metal rockers Sevendust — "Driven" and "Beg 2 Differ" — in support of their 2005 album "Alpha" and who is currently working with the band Leaving Eden. Both Sevendust videos aired on MTV's Headbangers Ball.

That connection into the rock 'n' roll world led Murphy to get a call recently from a former student at the New Hampton School, where from 1992 to 2005 Murphy taught and served as chair of the Arts Department and director of Performing Arts.

The student, Scott Tkachuk, now works with Rainbow Concert Productions in Hampstead. Rainbow's touring clients include Dane Cook, Godsmack, Chevelle, Moe., Cold, Howie Day, The Irish Tenors, Three Days Grace, Breaking Benjamin and Hi-5 along with Sevendust and Mudvayne.

The latter artist, Murphy explained, "needed a spot that was safe and quiet and perfect for their rehearsal," which is why he directed the band to the GMC. There, Alex Moed, another former student of his from NHS, and Nick Riendeau, who studied acting under Murphy at Plymouth State University, served as interns. Moed shot 10 hours of video that will be cut down to a 30-second, time-elapsed spot featuring Mudvayne arriving, setting up and departing; Riendeau helped the band with anything they needed.

Murphy — whose "day" job is as a producer, along with his wife, Lori, at Whitebridge Farm Productions, which was founded by Ernest Thompson, who won the Academy Award for the screenplay adaptation of his play "On Golden Pond" — thinks more bands will follow Mudvayne north once they hear about the GMC.

He added that Whitebridge Farm Productions, which at www.whitebridgefarmproductions.com bills itself as "New Hampshire's film and theatre production company "and produces "socially conscious independent films, offers performing arts-related educational programs and workshops, and embraces the art of filmmaking in the New Hampshire community while speaking to a worldwide audience", also looks upon the GMC as a place to get things done.

Asked whether Mudvayne lost out on anything by not being in New York City or Los Angeles to rehearse, Murphy gave an adamant "no."

"There were thrilled because it wasn't Manhattan," he said. "They had a fabulous time here. We were able to make sure they weren't bothered and could have intense rehearsals.

"We offered them a boat ride but they just didn't have time and the one day we were going to go on the boat, it rained," said Murphy, who added that the musicians got to squeeze in some golf at the Lochmere Country Club before they and their two semi-trailer truck loads of equipment left for Maine late on Tuesday night.

Callahan said the word he got from Mudvayne's managers and promoters was all positive.

"They were very pleased with the way everything was handled. They were able to come up, set up, do their business and do everything under budget."

"I hope they come back," he said of Mudvayne. "It was a real good experience for everybody."