The way I do it is this: the first thing I listen for is what's the loudest element in the mix, then once I've got that, I listen for the second-loudest thing, third-loudest, and quietest, and I'll keep that arrangement in my head, like a tier list. Then I'll go back to the loudest thing and listen for where it is—is it all up in my face, or is it a bit further back? Then I'll start bringing the faders up; I'll get the loudest thing up where I think it is, then I'll bring up the second loudest thing and get that sounding like it was in relation to the first, then the third and fourth things, and by the end I usually have something pretty close to the original balance.

The only exception is when I have a balance that's way out of whack, where one element is like 15db louder than everything else. In those instances, I'll make a note of where the loudest thing is, but then I'll ignore it and go through the same process starting with the second-loudest element and get the quiet part of the mix right before I add the really loud thing on top of it.